À memória de Teresa Ves Liberta, que deixou muitas esperanças a cumprir.
GOING ALONE IS FASTER,
BUT TOGETHER WE GO FURTHER
I was called upon,
here I am, what’s going on?
I came from there, I came from there when I was little.
Someone warned me to stand on this ground little by little.
Dona Ivone Lara
Hilda has been walking for a long time. She came into my life years ago, little by little, and today my words meet her path. Onde meus pés pisam [Where my feet stand] is an exhibition of the Brazilian artist Hilda de Paulo, held in the city of Porto, which presents a diverse collection of works that has accompanied the journeys and encounters that the artist has been threading since she left Inhumas, a city in the state of Goiás, in the Central-West of Brazil. It is from this starting point that we set off.
For this exhibition, Hilda has brought works that extend through painting, photography, objects and performance, among other languages that compose her research. Such works can be found in the venue like fragments of a trajectory marked by displacement, listening and the creation of bonds.
To me, writing about Hilda’s work is a particularly sensitive exercise, as I am also a trans body. Empathy is probably an overused, worn-out word, but it is exactly the kind of experience that this exhibition convenes. The possibility of feeling with other people and to recognize, even for a moment, that which moves through us.
The pain that emerges from these stories is not introduced as a single form. Hilda reconfigures it and even turns to humour as a critical and intellectual tool. This gesture displaces the weight of suffering and gives room for other forms of elaboration and sharing.
By walking through the exhibition, the visitors follow the movement of an artist whose life and work are built in displacement. The choices presented by Hilda are not imposed as closed-ended answers. They are generously offered in the venue and invite those who pass by to walk together, recognizing, in the artist’s paths, echoes of their own journey.
The exhibition presents a set of works that spans different languages and experiences. Before this multiplicity, any attempt made in this text to fully account for the complexity of each work will be necessarily partial. Nevertheless, it becomes impossible to continue without a mention of Eu Gisberta [I Gisberta]. The impact of this work is significant in that it unfolds like a mechanism of self-identification for the artist.
In one of her lectures, the Brazilian writer and researcher Amara Moira talks about the experience of the cisgender gaze directed at a trans body, and how such a gaze works. It is usually not the case that this gaze can be openly hostile or aggressive. It is a curious gaze, in an apparent effort to understand what is in front of it. However, in this attempt to comprehend, it also affirms that a trans body is alien and weird, a body that does not make sense within the expectations that organize the world.
This estrangement, when reiterated and naturalized, creates a distance between the one who looks and the one who is looked at. Gradually, that which was only a curiosity becomes rejection, and rejection might become violence. When taken to extremes by individuals whose lives are governed by hatred, this gaze ultimately creates death. More specifically, transfemicide, since we must give names to things.
Unfortunately, this is the environment of fear and transphobia where trans bodies are taught to live in.
How to live with fear? How to transform this pain into something else? How to be free?
This pain may be similar to the one produced by a tattoo that heals and leaves a permanent mark. A tattoo can not exist without the piercing of a needle, just like some memories can not exist without the experience of pain. The gesture that wounds is also the one that writes. Hilda’s work wounds me because I can see her pain and loneliness in it, and somewhere they are also mine, like they once were Gisberta’s.
The exhibition opens up like that wound and the scab it creates as it heals. Like the cracks on a foot that walks bare. It is between these wounds and the healing power of scars that Hilda’s work is revealed.
Be it as it may, we press forward. From the series Em Umas Bandas (Dia e Noite) [At Some Places (Day and Night)], Rota Solitária [Solitary Route] is born, which begins to organize the course of the exhibition as a whole. Every life is, in a sense, a solitary route, and many artists find in their own work some sort of shelter, or at least they search for it.
In this set of sixty 5 x 7 cm paintings, displayed on one of the walls of the exhibition space, the sequence of dots and colors creates landscapes of a long journey that is yet to end.
These paintings appear almost like postcards that do not fully reveal a landscape, but invite visitors to explore it alongside Hilda. The longest journey always begins with a first step. These small paintings emerge like calluses on the feet during a long and exhausting traversal.
The idea of mail exchange is strengthened when a quotation of one of her texts, Emi Koyama passou aqui [Emi Koyama was here], comes into play. Hilda has a relationship with words that moves me immensely. A postcard is not only a memory of a place. It is also a memory of someone. This memory, triggered by the senses, is even able to touch, again and again.
In this exhibition, Hilda’s invitation for a shared walk is not limited to the audience, but extends to other artists. Also present are the works of Anita Malfatti, Índigo, and Tales Frey, invited to participate in this path. A portion of Soares dos Reis National Museum’s collections also comes in dialogue with Hilda’s work, expanding the field of relations that percolates the exhibition.
Onde meus pés pisam is the same ground that so many others have walked on. In this exhibition, Hilda invites us to walk with her. And maybe, it is through this very act of walking together that the path can be opened.
Agrippina R. Manhattan
artist, curator, and researcher
OBRAS
1) Hilda de Paulo, Rota Solitária (“As Quatro Estações” de Sandy & Jr.), 2025. Acrílica sobre tela, 30 x 40 cm;
2) Hilda de Paulo, PESSOAS CIS NÃO ESPERAM DE PESSOAS TRANS E TRAVESTIS A INTELECTUALIDADE, 2023;
3) Anita Malfatti, Árvore Amarela, déc. de 50. Aquarela sobre papel, 17 x 13 cm | Hilda de Paulo, 75 anos depois, homem é detido suspeito de provocar incêndio com isqueiro (Depois de Anita Malfatti), 2025. Acrílica sobre tela, 17 x 13 cm;
4) Hilda de Paulo, Eu Gisberta, 2015. Fotografia + Texto-Manifesto, 100 x 100 cm;
5) Aurélia de Sousa, Academia (Modelo Feminino), ;
6) Alberto Aires de Gouveia, Retrato de Rapaz, 1914. Pastel sobre papel colado em tela, medida;
7) Hilda de Paulo, Fragmento do texto “Emi Koyama passou aqui”, 2024.
8) Índigo, Desenho para a capa do livro “Emi Koyama passou aqui” de Hilda de Paulo, 2026. Lápis-de-cor sobre papel, 21 x 29,7 cm;
9) Hilda de Paulo, Querido diário… (Depois de Nelson Leirner), 2026. Colagem sobre fotografia, 120 x 80 cm;
10) Hilda de Paulo, Como vai você, Sr. Curador?, 2025. Instalação com oito fotografias (42,2 x 59,5 cm cada), 168,8 x 165 cm aprox.;
11) Hilda de Paulo, A Amante Ideal (Depois de Emília Nadal), 2021. Lata cilíndrica em papel kraft com alça e tampa costurada de couro, e revestida com impressão da imagem do rótulo, 28,5 (altura) x 21 (circunferência) x 45,5 (circunferência da alça) cm;
12) Hilda de Paulo, Base-amarração (Alex Júnior), 2026. Colagem, 50 x 50 cm;
13) Hilda de Paulo, Hilda de Paulo (Brincos), 2025. Objeto-pintura, 17,5 x 17,5 x 46 cm aprox.;
14) Hilda de Paulo, Hilda de Paulo (Luvas) (Depois de Miley Cyrus), 2026. Objeto-pintura, (medida);
15) Hilda de Paulo, Hilda de Paulo (Sapatos), 2021. Objeto-pintura, 58 x 28 x 9 cm;
16) Hilda de Paulo, Porque não houve grandes pessoas trans artistas em Portugal? (Depois de Linda Nochlin), 2026. Letreiro confeccionado em MDF 15 mm com recorte especial e pintura automotiva;
17) Hilda de Paulo, Rota Solitária, 2024-26. Acrílica sobre tela, 5 x 7 cm cada;
17.1) Rota Solitária #60 (Tales Frey – Vampiro), 2026;
17.2) Rota Solitária #32, 2025;
17.3) Rota Solitária #07, 2024;
17.4) Rota Solitária #29 (Frida Kahlo), 2025;
17.5) Rota Solitária #15 (Borboleta), 2025;
17.6) Rota Solitária #33 (Ygor Landarin), 2026;
17.7) Rota Solitária #20, 2025;
17.8) Rota Solitária #41 (Encruzilhada), 2025;
17.9) Rota Solitária #43, 2025;
17.10) Rota Solitária #50 (“Amores”, de Marissa Mur & Luis Jimenez), 2026;
17.11) Rota Solitária #54 (“Purple Rain”, de Prince and the Revolution), 2026;
17.12) Rota Solitária #27, 2025;
17.13) Rota Solitária #01, 2024;
17.14) Rota Solitária #47, 2025;
17.15) Rota Solitária #13, 2025;
17.16) Rota Solitária #51 (Caio Brabo), 2026;
17.17) Rota Solitária #16, 2025;
17.18) Rota Solitária #18 (Suzana Queiroga), 2025;
17.19) Rota Solitária #25 (Húsavík), 2025;
17.20) Rota Solitária #45 (“Before the Goodbye”, de Britney Spears), 2026;
17.21) Rota Solitária #58 (Avô, Mãe, Eu), 2026;
17.22) Rota Solitária #35, 2025;
17.23) Rota Solitária #02, 2024;
17.24) Rota Solitária #06, 2024;
17.25) Rota Solitária #08, 2024;
17.26) Rota Solitária #57 (Rute Rosas), 2026;
17.27) Rota Solitária #10, 2025;
17.28) Rota Solitária #09 (Meu Coração), 2025;
17.29) Rota Solitária #48 (Yayoi Kusama), 2025;
17.30) Rota Solitária #40 (“Charme”, de Liniker), 2026;
17.31) Rota Solitária #49 (Joana Alves), 2026;
17.32) Rota Solitária #14 (Teresa Ves Liberta), 2024;
17.33) Rota Solitária #03, 2024;
17.34) Rota Solitária #11, 2025;
17.35) Rota Solitária #31 (Sonia Delaunay), 2025;
17.36) Rota Solitária #52 (Alex Júnior), 2026;
17.37) Rota Solitária #24, 2025;
17.38) Rota Solitária #19 (Tarsila do Amaral), 2025;
17.39) Rota Solitária #55 (Lila Fadista), 2025;
17.40) Rota Solitária #57 (Sarah Affonso), 2026;
17.41) Rota Solitária #39, 2026;
17.42) Rota Solitária #36, 2025;
17.43) Rota Solitária #04, 2024;
17.44) Rota Solitária #05, 2024;
17.45) Rota Solitária #21, 2025;
17.46) Rota Solitária #59, (Inês Grosso), 2026;
17.47) Rota Solitária #42, 2025;
17.48) Rota Solitária #56, 2025;
17.49) Rota Solitária #23 (Melquíades), 2025;
17.50) Rota Solitária #44 (Tânia Dinis na casa da avó Ermelinda), 2026;
17.51) Rota Solitária #30 (Pai), 2025;
17.52) Rota Solitária #46 (“As 4 Estações”, de Sandy & Jr.), 2025;
17.53) Rota Solitária #37 (Flávio Botelho), 2025;
17.54) Rota Solitária #22 (Félix González-Torres), 2025;
17.55) Rota Solitária #17, 2025;
17.56) Rota Solitária #28, 2025;
17.57) Rota Solitária #12 (Serpentes), 2025;
17.58) Rota Solitária #26, 2025;
17.59) Rota Solitária #38 (Teresa Coutinho), 2025;
17.60) Rota Solitária #53 (Patricia Ribeiro), 2026;
18) Hilda de Paulo, Em Umas Bandas (Noite), 2020-24. Acrílica sobre tela, 5 x 7 cm cada;
19) Hilda de Paulo, Em Umas Bandas (Dia), 2020-24. Acrílica sobre tela, 5 x 7 cm cada.
Programa Paralelo
Abril
– Visita-guiada com Hilda de Paulo e Índigo
Maio
– Visita-guiada com Hilda de Paulo
– Performance Be (on) you, de Tales Frey, com participação de Hilda de Paulo
FICHA TÉCNICA
Hilda de Paulo: onde meus pés pisam | Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, Porto, Portugal | Texto: Agrippina R. Manhattan | Participação especial: Anita Malfatti, Índigo e Tales Frey | Tradução: Emanuela Siqueira | Montagem: x | Fotografia: x | Agradecimentos: Agrippina R. Manhattan, Emanuela Siqueira, Índigo, Lúcia Helena, LUMEN – Imaging & Design Studio, Mãos Talentosas – Soluções Globais, Moldursant – Papelaria, Molduras e Belas Artes, Paulo Barbosa, Suzana Queiroga e Tales Frey | 28 de março a 24 de maio