Few places embrace cultural diversity like Macao. Seen throughout the local architecture or tasted across its culinary offerings, elements from both far and near are easily recognisable, preserved for each incoming generation.
A new exhibition opening Thursday evening at Livraria Portuguesa, Pequenos Mundos em Estado Sólido (“Tiny Worlds in Solid States”), takes visitors on a visual journey across Macao. It features detailed imagery rendered on tiny pieces of calçada – the iconic white limestone paving so characteristic of the Lusitanian world, from Portugal to Brazil, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Angola and Timor.
Showcasing immense structures like the 338-meter Macau Tower, all the way down to the petite flower pedals blossoming somewhere in a city garden, local artist Cláudia Falcão utilises the same type of calçada stone installed across public spots like Senado Square as a canvas for her aesthetic expression.
“I want each visitor to focus upon the art the way Macao looks upon us,” says the Coimbra born Falcão, who has called the city home for more than a decade.
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Trained as a conservator-restorer with a postgraduate degree in museology and museography from the University of Lisbon, Falcão is passionate about artistic and cultural heritage, as well as visual memory.
“I hope when visitors see these miniature calçada canvases, they evoke beautiful moments from their past and inspire them to share their stories in the present,” Falcão tells Macao News, describing how crystallising images in stone for her embraces symbolic act of honouring the memory and capturing time that passes by so relentlessly.
Pequenos Mundos em Estado Sólido is organised by Casa de Portugal em Macau, sponsored by Fundação Macau, and endorsed by the Consulate General of Portugal in Macau and Hong Kong, AICEP Portugal Global, Fundação Oriente, and Instituto Português do Oriente.
The opening ceremony takes place on June 5th at 6:30 pm in the art gallery of Livraria Portuguesa. The exhibition is open to the public and will run until Saturday, June 28th. More information can be found here.
