SNBA - Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes

Rua Barata Salgueiro 36, 1250-044 Lisboa

Inauguration → 04 . 09 . 2025 → 06:00 pm

05 . 09 . 2025 → 04 . 10 . 2025

monday - friday → 12:00 pm – 07:00 pm

saturday → 02:00 pm – 07:00 pm

Curated by

Rui Prata

The hardest borders to cross are not inscribed on any map. Oftentimes, the real barriers are those of invisibility, drawn by centuries of global colonialism, silence, and social exclusion. They persist in glances, in the bureaucracy, in the archives. They are the borders imposed between what is seen and what is recognized, what is remembered and what is erased. This exhibition stands as a call to reflect on the realities of racism, that range from subtle to brutal.

Invisible Borders brings together the singular and provocative perspectives of Alina Zaharia, Gloria Oyarzabal, Grace Ribeiro, Patrik Rastenberger, Omar Victor Diop, and Wendel A. White — artists who use photography to dismantle the architectures of structural racism and reveal its presence within the social, cultural, and historical fabric. These works not only denounce the explicit and hidden forms of racial exclusion, but also propose paths of resistance, reparation, and reimagination.

Alina Zaharia investigates the intersection between identity, territory, and discrimination, focusing on the marginalization of Roma people in Europe. Gloria Oyarzabal deconstructs Western colonial paradigms, confronting the racialized ways of seeing imposed on bodies. Grace Ribeiro creates spaces of belonging and healing from within the Cape Verdean diaspora, invoking lost memories and rewriting narratives. Patrik Rastenberger approaches racial constructions with a critical and sensitive gaze, revealing how racism structures lives in everyday settings. Omar Victor Diop merges past and present by re-enacting historical portraits of African figures, questioning who has the right to occupy the collective memory. Wendel A. White sheds light on forgotten documents and everyday objects, transforming the archive into a poetic testament of Black presence in the United States.

This collection of works forms a sensitive cartography of the invisible borders that operate in the contemporary world. Here, photography is not merely a record: it is political action, poetic gesture, and a tool for visibility. As visitors move through the exhibition, we invited them to see beyond the frame, to listen to what lies at the margins, and to recognize the contours of silence.

Invisible Borders does not seek to offer definitive answers. Because crossing these borders requires more than looking — it requires transforming the very way we see.