Memoria Roubada

Memoria Roubada was completed in May 2001 for Fråvær/Absences, a touring exhibition co-curated by David Elliott and Marith Hope, organised by National Touring Exhibitions, Norway. The exhibition included seven artists whose works explore the triumphs and miseries of memory and its relationship to being.



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Memoria Roubada
Sculpture, 2001
Polychromed wood, Gold Leaf, Slate base.
Size: 200cm x 300cm x 300cm

 . . .The cabinet opens its doors onto the effects of violence; more than a simple
theft, there has been an armed robbery, murder, or genocide in the name of someone
or something – a form of mockery or contempt. Outside, there to be contemplated, lies
the heart pierced by those beautiful, noble daggers, their blades gleaming.

To bring this crime to light, the work gives us its core – it only examines its
heart. Through what’s left behind, everything else can be intuited. The spectator at
one moment identifies with the heads in the cabinet, but at the next feels the pull of
pure suffering. It’s impossible to get closer, for the space is protected by a mysterious
glass jar, surrounded by a halo. Therefore, we have to be careful: modesty joins
hands with charity, and creates this instant, made for withdrawal and meditation . . .


José Lobo, text extract, 2001.