Nuno Henrique – A Morte escreve a Floresta

Some of the recurring themes in my work find a major example in the oeuvre of Alberto Carneiro – the tree; the forest. One of the first exhibitions I remember attending was, in fact, the Anthological Exhibition 1968–2003 by Alberto Carneiro, presented at the Contemporary Art Museum of Funchal in 2003. The notion of an ecological art, as expressed by Carneiro in his texts and works, has had a special resonance with my aesthetic concerns since the beginning of my practice. Reencountering his work thus becomes the starting point for the exhibition project I now present at CAAC. Specifically, a set of serigraphs by Alberto Carneiro featuring black and white photographic records of a forest, overlaid with patches and beams of color referencing the spectrum of visible light. The trees, the forest, and color provided the clues for the construction of the constellation of works composed of a sculptural installation, a series of drawings/frottages of tree trunks, and an artist’s book.

The sculptural pieces replicate the elongated shape of the shell of a snail, Wollastonaria turricula, a species endemic to a small islet in the Porto Santo archipelago. This islet, named in the 16th century as Ilhéu dos Dragoeiros due to the abundance of the trees with the same name, is currently undergoing a habitat restoration process. With the colonization of the archipelago, the dragon trees have long disappeared from the islet, and the ones that were reintroduced have not found the conditions to thrive. However, the tiny mollusk, which until a few years ago was restricted to an area of just 50m2 on the islet, has managed to multiply and expand its distribution.

I like to think of this snail as a seed or embryo of a dragon tree. Together with other species (including the human species), it is slowly preparing the conditions for a grove of dragon trees to one day grow there again. From the shells/sculptures also emerge beams of color, in the form of rainbows, but with the colors of the dragon tree – its flowers; its fruits; its leaves; its sap; its trunk – paraphrasing the Notes for a Manifesto of an Ecological Art by Alberto Carneiro: to take the tree and transform it into (a work of art).

Nuno Henrique 2025

Lives and works between New York, Lisbon, and Madeira. Holds a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, New York (2016), and a degree in Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (2005). In 2008, he worked as a production assistant at Porta 33. He attended the Individual Project program at Ar.Co, Lisbon, during the academic years 2009/2010. Has exhibited regularly since 2009. In 2024, he presented the solo exhibition “O Cão do Dragoal” at the Henrique and Francisco Franco Museum and published the artist’s book “O Cão do Dragoal/Double Rainbow” in Funchal. He participated in the group exhibition “A Moeda Viva”, curated by Maria do Mar Fazenda, at Galeria Quadrum, Lisbon. In 2023, he was selected for the 13th Amadeo Souza Cardoso Prize in Amarante and presented a solo project, “A altitude de um caracol” at Galeria Mupi, Porto. He has been awarded grants from several institutions, including: Ar.Co/Porta 33 (2009/10); Centro Nacional de Cultura (2011); Fundación Botín, Santander (2012); Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation/FLAD (2012 and 2014–2016). His work is represented in various collections, such as: Ar.Co, Vatican Library, Lisbon City Council, Gulbenkian Art Library, Carmona e Costa Foundation, Centenera Jaraba Foundation, EDP Foundation, Fernando Figueiredo Ribeiro Collection, MG Collection, and MUDAS. Museum of Contemporary Art.