Isabelle Ferreira – Notre Feu
22 OCT 2025 - 02 MAR 2026
MAAT Gallery
Curator: Joana P. R. Neves
Isabelle Ferreira (France, 1972) has an established her presence in the French art scene, with several institutional exhibitions, public art works, and inclusion in national collections.
At MAAT, she is presenting Notre Feu, an exhibition whose title recalls nights passed gathered around campfires, making reference to the journey of Portuguese migrants who, during the early 1960s under the Salazar dictatorship, fled clandestinely to France. This memory is poignantly expressed in a collection of compositions titled L'Invention du courage (o salto), which recreates a practice of that time: before leaving, migrants would hand a photograph of themselves to the trafficker, who would tear it in half. One half was handed to the family (or a trustee), while the other was kept by the migrant. That half was later sent to the family left behind once the migrant had safely reached their destination.
Focused on political and social themes, particularly on economical migration (the artist herself being a daughter of Portuguese migrants) and exile, this exhibition will offer an immersive sensory experience: from a choice of colours (from plants found along the clandestine emigration routes known as a salto), to materials (ceramics that evoke the roughness of mountain stone) and spaces (represented by photographs of the landscapes crossed by the migrants). A monumental, site-specific collage will anchor the exhibition – a final gesture in a journey that, in today’s historical context, resonates as both a deeply personal remembrance and a universal testimony to displacement and resilience.
With the support of
Fondation des Artistes
Institut Français
MaisFRANÇA, Institut Français du Portugal
