A smile from the Lost & Found archive

IMG_0832.jpg – as simple as the title, as multi-layered as the artwork. Pedrita, the artist duo, has created a site-specific tile installation for the terrace of the TCO Lisbon, combining contemporary Portuguese ceramic art with a personal culture of remembrance. The motif comes from their Lost&Found photo archive, a collection of lost and found images created in 2018 for an exhibition at the Underdogs Gallery. Everyday episodes, spontaneous moments and staged poses – this meticulous archive encourages reflection on loss and recovery: of our individual memories, our collective references, our cultural heritage.

For TCO, the studio artists around Rita João chose a photograph of an anonymous woman – dreamy, self-assured, looking upwards and outwards. Her smile radiates a serenity that perfectly complements the atmosphere of the terrace. The composition complements the organic flow of the vertical garden on the wall, as if the artwork were entering into a dialogue with the plants.

Between tradition and innovation: the “Grão” technique

The technical execution bridges past and present: old, no-longer-available Portuguese industrial tiles meet hand-painted tiles created specifically for this work. Pedrita arranges them using her characteristic ‘Grão’ compositional technique – based on the pixel principle of photographic grain. Each tile becomes a pixel; together they form a monumental portrait.

The sheer scale presented a unique challenge. Originally, the artists had envisaged animal or plant motifs, but the more they experimented, the clearer it became: a more communicative work would better suit the location. The mixed colours of the industrial tiles needed to be balanced by a more organic element – through the craftsmanship, the warmth, the human presence.