PRAYA is an exhibition by Duda Affonso that renews and transforms itself with each edition. Starting from a line of thought that wanders along the shores and sometimes ventures out to sea, Duda draws on aesthetics to reflect on the contemporary, using one of her most iconic materials: plastic. It is through the diverse range of ready-mades made from this industrialized material that the artist constructs a mega-fake and over-fake universe, guiding visitors through the contradictions of plasticity. In this way, PRAYA moves from uselessness to frivolity, while also exploring the usefulness of plastic in its many forms.

Curated by: Ana Grebler
Opening event with DJset by Ruca aka Rádio Sonoplasmática


Duda Affonso grew up fascinated by images. In her search to create a lexicon that would allow them to speak for themselves, she eventually became a storyteller. She is a Luso-Brazilian academic researcher, conceptual artist, and curator who works across disciplines. Through the complex interplay of images and the imagination, her research playfully brings together bodies, structures, movement, images, and the mind, projecting itself across various platforms such as film, photography, installation, performance, and text through a speculative retro-futurist perspective.

She holds a PhD in Comparative Modernities: Literature, Arts and Cultures from the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal, where she conducted her research with funding from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). She holds a master's degree in Contemporary Artistic Practices from the School of Fine Arts of Porto and a bachelor's degree in Film from IESB, with a specialization in Digital Photography from the New York Film Academy.