Untitled 

Curator: Let's focus on this striking untitled drawing by Graça Morais. What's your immediate reaction? Editor: A sense of turmoil, of internal struggle visualized through a flurry of sketched figures. The red around the mouth—a symbolic rage, perhaps? Curator: Absolutely. Morais uses a mix of pencil and charcoal, and even a bit of red pigment, building up layers of imagery. You see animals, human faces… there's a dreamlike quality to the composition. The material itself has an energy, a nervous intensity. Editor: It speaks to a deep well of emotion, I think. The recurring animal motifs - dogs, a large tiger looming overhead - create a tension between the domestic and the wild, a commentary on the constraints placed upon women perhaps? I also notice the repetition of eyes…an almost constant state of observation, of being watched? Curator: Interesting. It makes me think about the act of mark-making itself. Each line, each erasure, tells a story of process, a sort of raw engagement with the materials. What kind of labor went into creating this intensity and how much was physical or spontaneous? Editor: Labor of both the body and the mind. It's important to also understand the social backdrop against which Morais was creating. How much was her practice a response to socio-political expectations of women at the time? It may not seem initially apparent, but could we consider her process an act of subversion through creative practice? Curator: Maybe it can even be said that in rejecting conventional pictorial styles, it echoes Morais' broader artistic philosophy, challenging art historical conventions by foregrounding the raw immediacy of the creative act and materiality. Editor: Yes, ultimately, a deeply evocative piece that invites layers of interpretations concerning internal experience. Curator: A fascinating example of the way art materials meet the artist’s emotions, providing us a compelling visual narrative.