Paulo Arraiano
Unless the water is safer than the land is an exhibition by artist Paulo Arraiano that explores the relationship between the ocean, human bodies and the histories of displacement shaping our present. Inspired by Warsan Shire’s poem Home, the exhibition reflects on the sea as a space of transit, memory and survival, where migration, colonial histories, resource exploitation and uncertain futures converge.
Through image, sound and digital visualities, Arraiano constructs a hybrid landscape in which science, myth and technology intersect, approaching the ocean as a living archive of collective memory and geopolitical tensions. The exhibition functions as an extract from the broader project Lagos to Lagos, focusing on the artist’s research into the symbolic connections between territories, maritime routes and the historical dynamics that continue to shape contemporary migrations.
Centro Párraga hosts the extended version of Unless the water is safer than the land from May 21 to June 25.
Paulo Arraiano (Portugal, 1977) is a visual artist based in Lisbon whose practice operates at the intersection of art, ecology, technology, and geopolitics. Through video, installation, sculpture, and digital imagery, he investigates tensions related to the climate crisis, the Anthropocene, and geographies of imbalance.
His work has been presented in institutions and venues such as the MAAT Museum, Museu Coleção Berardo, and Museu de Angra do Heroísmo in Portugal; La Casa Encendida and CAC Málaga in Spain; Centre d’Art Contemporain Passerelle in Brest; and the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, among others.
Arraiano is co-founder of Re_act Contemporary, an art laboratory and residency program; WATA, an editorial project focused on contemporary art; and No.stereo, an artist-run platform. He is currently represented by Dimora Artica / Candy Snake Gallery in Milan.
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