Marias de Abril

EXHIBITION

As part of the fiftieth anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, the Maison du Portugal – André de Gouveia is hosting the exhibition Marias de Abril: the feminine carnation by the Luso-American visual artist Melanie Alves.

The opening is on December 4th, at 7:30pm, and will be marked by the participation of the committed Portuguese singer A Garota Não (stage name of Cátia Oliveira) who, like Melanie, practices artivism: she uses her art to promote change in society.
 

This exhibition aims to pay tribute to all the women who, more or less publicly, lived, resisted and fought against the dictatorship in Portugal. The project was born when, looking at old photographs, the artist had a very clear image of what the Estado Novo was: for 48 years, Portugal only wore pants (the Manuéis), and skirts ( the Marias) being literally confined to the family and domestic sphere.

During this period, Portuguese women were for the most part “Marianas imprisoned in convents” as in their roles as workers as well as in those of daughters, mothers or wives, they are the ones who suffered the most from the dictatorial regime, and who are yet the least present in the evocations of April 25, 1974.

Helena Pato, Maria Barroso, Natália Correia, Maria Lamas, Catarina Eufémia, Maria Velho da Costa, Isabel Barreno and Maria Teresa Horta are some of those who planted carnations and were the driving force of the revolution.

The exhibition includes several pieces – paintings, installations, embroideries, ceramics – of different materials and of varying dimensions. Erotic poetry from suffocating scarves, a tea that eases tensions served at the moment of the formalization of freedom and a provocative church bench with feminine shapes are some of Melanie Alves’ proposals to celebrate the Marias of April.