Reaching for fata morgana

For her first solo exhibition, Inês Mendes Leal sets out to stage a mirage inspired by the optical phenomenon known as fata morgana, caused by extreme temperature differences that distort visual perception through refraction. Following its observation and documentation in Chile’s Atacama Desert during an artist residency, she now reinterprets it within the space of Galeria da Boavista.

Drawing on the effects of heat, Inês Mendes Leal creates a multimedia installation in which this element materialises through a language that oscillates between the lyrical and the synthetic. The work presented here forms part of her practice over the past three years, during which she has explored and deconstructed the action of air and wind, translating them into sound and video works. The exhibition unfolds as a sensory crescendo, where a soundscape composed from field recordings unsettles the visitor’s journey, initially in an almost imperceptible way, but becoming progressively denser. The title Reaching for fata morgana reinforces this very experience: the attempt to find the horizon line, which recedes and approaches through its infinite modulations.