PADA Residency

Lisbon, Portugal 2024

The PADA residency is in a municipality called Barriero that lies on the river Tagus across from Lisbon, Portugal. Companhia União Fabril (C.U.F.) in Barreiro was the largest chemical industrial center of one of the biggest Portuguese business groups in the 20th century. The industrial park area contains old factory buildings that have been left to decay like skeletons in an apocalyptic landscape. Materials strewn about hold a part of these stories from the past. There are giant resin molds, machine parts, jars, paperwork, metal pellets, and some installations from previous artists all who used this industrial park setting to inform their work. Amidst the concrete dilapidation, nature finds a way to break through the cracks and reclaim the environment.

The two paintings I created during the PADA Art residency Encounter and Crossing are inspired by a place where the past and the present intersect.