A forest does not always need trees. It can emerge from a thread, a fold in paper, a line crossing the white space, or a secret kept among imagined roots.
In this exhibition, Rosa Godinho invites visitors to journey through five letters: “the wind was a messenger”, “I found a branch that could speak”, “the flowers knew how to wait”, “I heard footsteps in the dew”, and “I left a secret among the roots”. In each one, nature finds its voice and suggests a way of listening to what usually remains silent.
Japanese tissue paper, cotton and silk threads, embroidery, and touches of gold leaf compose a delicate landscape, shaped between drawing, textile art, and installation. Colour almost disappears, giving way to white and the natural tones of the materials. It is within this visual silence that line, texture, and relief reveal their presence.
Folds, transparencies, and overlapping threads evoke roots, branches, and pathways. Each work is the result of a patient process, close to the gesture of weaving, in which the materials retain the memory of hands and time. Even when moving beyond the boundaries of tapestry, the artist preserves textile thinking as both origin and language.
The pieces extend this narrative into space. Their volumes suggest small planets or clearings in a forest that exists somewhere between imagination and matter. Like the pages of a book, the works establish relationships with one another, creating a story open to different readings.
“Letters to an Imaginary Forest” thus proposes a pause: an invitation to look attentively, to listen to the invisible, and to discover, among threads and roots, the secrets that each image quietly holds.
_Diana Costa