Animals 06 // Oil on canvas, branches and soil, (2020)

Rita Palma is a Portuguese multidisciplinary artist working on the concepts of identity and displacement. Her process can be described as a speculative research that doesn’t intend to get specific answers but merely questions. The focus of this research it’s not just on a individual level but also on an collective one. Some of these questions are: What does it mean to be a human being? How does heritage and social norms interact with the human body and mind.

During her time at GlogauAIR, Palma developed a project called ANIMALS. Her main focus was the representation of an utopia: a species that is free from its social norms. The cultural context of these creatures is erased but they chase impulses and urges. She intends to highlight the feeling of displacement and the crises of identity that the contemporary society is going through. Afterward, Rita takes these paintings out of the studio and displaces them into nature. By taking the pictures out of the studio and into the nature the paintings are also displaced.

The painting featured in GlogauAIR showcase represents one of those displaced individuals. While it faces the spectator there’s a comparation of its own displacement with the displacement of the person walking by. Defyingly, the individual in the painting questions and compares: “We are both here but do we belong here?”

You’ll be able to see more of Rita Palma’s work during our upcoming Open Studios on December the 18th!