All I want – Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020

This exhibition brings together about two hundred works by forty female Portuguese artists. Its primary objective is to assist in rectifying the systematic erasure that works by these artists – like so of their sisters elsewhere in the world – have suffered since time immemorial.

Focusing on works produced between 1900 and 2020, All I Want unfolds along a number of axes that reveal the artists' clear desire to assert themselves in the face of the dominant systems of consecration:

the gaze, the body (their body, the bodies of others, the body as a political entity), the space and the way in which they occupy it (house, nature, studio), the means by which they cross disciplinary boundaries (painting and sculpture, of course, but also video, performance and sound) and the determination with which they advance within an ideal of construction that transforms, both themselves and those in their orbit.

These themes are thrown into sharp relief throughout the exhibition, without being rigidly mapped out via a set narrative.  The works were not selected by ticking off items on a prescribed list. Instead, the pieces themselves steered the thrust of the exhibition, leading us to the themes, suggesting dialogue between artists from different generations and revealing a plethora of rich connections.

All I Want is an organic body run through with currents, tensions and nuances of semantics and form. These guide us through the rooms and allow the exhibition to blossom forth and wield its effect in space and time.

These artists have won their place through the sheer quality of their work, in spite of all obstacles placed in their path. Celebrating their victory means that we have to resist the illustrative approach that a show centred around gender (female artists) or nationality (Portuguese) might suggest.

At the same time, we must be mindful that even now, with the 21st century well under way, nothing is settled in terms of gender equality, and that these pieces are examples of the long, collective struggle for women's right to full recognition as artists. The evidence of their endeavours imbues viewers both with a sense of hope and an increased awareness of their own responsibility.