White Yields to Purple
14 August -13 September 2026
Solo Exhibition
Curated by Sofia Marcal
National Natural History and Science Museum Lisbon (MUHNAC)
The artist conceived the exhibition White Yields to Purple for the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory with the aim of creating a connection between Tyrian purple—an ancient pigment discovered and traded by the Phoenicians—and the sterile white of the room, a symbol of purity in Western culture. Through this intentional contamination, the purple-painted tiles together with the ceramic works seek to evoke an Antiquity that, according to the artist, has been shaped and distorted, its narrative perpetuated over time.
Through this alteration of colour, the artist proposes a shift in perspective. Purple illuminates the forgotten routes that connected the Eastern Mediterranean to the Atlantic, along which merchants, pigments, alphabets, and narratives circulated.
Tyrian purple was produced from secretions extracted from marine snails, whose exposure to air and sunlight triggered chemical reactions that produced its characteristic purple colour. Because producing even a small amount required large quantities of snails and considerable labour, the pigment was extremely valuable and became a symbol of status and power in the ancient world.