Photography: Carlos Cezanne
06 / 05 / 2021
There can be no greater harmony than when art becomes intertwined with life without ever becoming matter, simply an essential condition for our transformation.
A celestial and somewhat sacred light pierces the recycled tiles, tinging the floor of the antechamber with ephemeral flecks of life. Chameleon-like, fleeting, unpredictable; just like the art that is created inside this space designed to “create, heal and live”, located within a former industrial complex in Campanhã. Having bought the warehouse in 2017, and designing “on a moleskine the sensations that I intended for the different spaces”, the artist and creative director Joana Fins Faria resorted to the unique style of the architect Camilo Rebelo to devise the essence of this “living healing gallery”. It was envisaged as an experimental space dedicated to the arts and spirituality, whose industrial appearance hardly suggests the sensory depth that permeates its interior.
As soon as we arrive, the antechamber confirms the inaugural metamorphosis. “It introduces time and calm, so that one becomes aware of the action”, Joana reveals. In its fluid and minimal interior, the imperfections of the concrete merge with the beauty of the stone. The majestic and monastic composition is framed by the arch of the mezzanine that accommodates the bedroom and the studio. Meanwhile, warmth comes from the wool and cotton, from the linen and velvet, from the skylights that cleave the ceiling and suffuse the space with light.