Manueline Rope

Drawing performance

Art & Cultural centre - Eugénio de Almeida Foundation

Evora. Portugal

2019

Image is taken from ‘Manueline Rope’, performed as part of Studio XXI group drawing exhibition: ‘Performance as drawing / Drawing as performance’. Exploring the drawn line as a physical and bodily process, using a 2-metre length of handmade Portuguese shipping rope untwisted during the performance. The rope and its fibres represent the drawn line in its various physical forms led by the tension between the rope and performer. Drawing performance inspired by the period of Portuguese Manueline architecture. This decorative style is characterised by virtuoso complex ornamentation of rope designs, intricately carved into stone portals, windows, columns and arcades. The style was much influenced by the successes of the voyages of discovery of Portuguese navigators, from the coastal areas of Africa to the discovery of Brazil and the ocean routes to the Far East, drawing heavily on the style and decorations of East Indian temples.