The subconscious and the realm of dreams are something that has always fascinated me. In times of crisis and uncertainty, at the height of emotional burnout, I always find myself escaping from a dreary reality allowing my mind to wander fearlessly and freely into the unknown, the realm of the imaginary where everything is and isn’t simultaneously. Chrysalis comes from a place of helplessness as a sort of parallel world that shows a surge of tensions between opposite forces that awaken the subconscious desire to escape, to vanish into one’s own world away from reality as a means of self-preservation, healing and transformation. This work is about letting our imagination run free and about experiencing the intangible, being and non-being, the conscious and sub-conscious states of the human mind, memory and illusion. Life and death are reflected upon by the creation of a parallel world. Through my images and the use of self-portraiture, I attempt to explore different discourses about the uncanny and the unconscious. In their ambiguity, the images aim to reveal a kind of mystery and show a space in-between where narratives are suggested but never imposed, giving the viewer space to connect with them through their own experiences, memories and emotions.

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About
Born in Portugal in 1980, Patricia started her career as a dancer and worked with dance theatre companies around Europe and the UK, where she lived until 2015. Patricia’s journey into the photography world started in 2018 with various photography courses at Instituto de Produção Cultural e Imagem (IPCI), where she gained a Master in Artistic Photography in October 2020. Her photographic language relies strongly on her experience as a performer. Patricia works primarily in self-portraiture to illustrate scenes that explore our human sensibilities through staged stories presented as film stills or dramatic images that create a visual dialogue between the viewer and the artist. Patricia has been the recipient of various awards, including, The Julie Margaret Cameron Award, Fine Art Photography Awards, Tokyo International Foto Awards, Budapest International Foto Awards, and has had her work published and critiqued in ARTDOC Photography Magazine, The Eye of Photography, ADFPhoto, critique by Francisco González Fernández, Clavoardiendo Magazine, Achtung Magazine, La Voz de Galicia, critique by Tareixa Taboada, La Region, critique by Xabier Limia de Gardón and Jornal de Noticias. Her work has been exhibited both individually and collectively in Portugal, Spain and England.