Lisbon Artist Bordalo II's 'Evilution' Advocates For a More Sustainable Future
In his latest exhibition, contemporary artist Bordalo II experiments with new materials to advance the conversation around sustainability.
When you think of major metropolitan hubs, Lisbon, Portugal isn’t necessarily the first city that comes to mind. Nevertheless, after a quick seven-hour TAP Air Portugal flight from New York City, I found myself overlooking the Lisbon skyline and was reminded of San Francisco. The hilly terrain, the trolley, the Bay Area-esque morning fog over Lisbon’s Sea of Straw.
But more than anything, what I noticed throughout my stay was the easy blend of cultures within the local atmosphere. Various origins of cuisine at chef José Avillez's Encanto. A group of friends skating in the square, each donning a different soccer team’s jersey. Families speaking a host of different languages during breakfast at my hotel, the Martinhal Chiado. And yet, they all come together to create a singular atmosphere that is Lisbon.
It’s the same principles embodied in artist Bordalo II’s work. As a creator focused on sustainability, Artur Bordalo creates collages from pieces and objects that would be considered “trash” as a vehicle for promoting a more sustainable world. His new exhibition, titled “Evilution,” showcases an array of animal sculptures composed of different waste elements—everything from cans of spray paint to disposable masks to rubber tires, as well as some more "experimental" pieces using exclusively wood or stone highlighting deforestation and destruction of certain habitats. "[These pieces] represent animals that could live in those places [where] they can no longer live," the artist explains.
Alongside the physical pieces was a short film dedicated to the artist’s collection of neon light sculptures. In the video, a group of unidentified individuals carry and place the illuminated pieces around the city of Lisbon, from the sides of train cars to recognizable building facades.
“I thought, Well, usually the art is just coming from the street to the museum or to the exhibition or the gallery. It could be interesting to do it the opposite way,” says Bordalo. “With the pandemic, everybody went home. We were scared. And the animals, they took our place in the city again where they belonged before us. They were no longer afraid to come back to the city because the streets were empty. It happened—it's real. And we wanted to do an interpretation of that.”
The guerrilla-style promotion of his work is second-nature for the artist who comes from the graffiti scene. However, some of the pieces did not make it back to the exhibition. “Young Bat” fell while hanging from a train car—"collateral damage,” Bordalo explains—and “Flying Squirrel” is, according to its honorary space at the exhibition, currently “doing an undetermined time in the government dungeons, despite being innocent (obviously).”
But these unauthorized works of street art are not Bordalo's first pieces to hit the streets of Lisbon. After leaving my hotel to wander the city in search of one too many patéis de nata, I came across a wall-sized pelican with the unmissable marks of Bordalo’s handiwork next to the Santa Justa Lift on Rua de Carmo. There, in a central hub of Lisbon with tourists and locals alike passing by, Bordalo's message stands tall and proud amid the hubbub of the city.
The works from “Evilution” will find a home in the new Edu Hub (a collaborative center for education) in Lisbon’s Park of Nations neighborhood, which is already becoming a hotspot for local contemporary artists. As a longtime lover and supporter of the Portuguese art scene, Martinhal Resorts’ Founder Chitra Stern sponsored the exhibition and will be placing some of Bordalo’s other works in the new Martinhal Residences in Park of Nations.
Bordalo’s art is, in many ways, a representation of Lisbon’s various neighborhoods and cultures. He brings together individual objects that were once used for a specific purpose to make a larger portrait of something beautiful. But even more so, “Evilution” is a love letter to the city and its people. The artist is bringing awareness to the importance of creating a more sustainable future not to shame others but in an effort to protect Lisbon (and the world) from the dangerous alternatives through the power of art.
