Fernando Marques Penteado
Mineiração / Mining, da série Culturas em um Mapa / from the Cultures in a Map series, 2020
hand embroidery on cotton and wool
56.5 x 43.5 x 3 cm
22 1/4 x 17 1/8 x 1 1/8 in
22 1/4 x 17 1/8 x 1 1/8 in
Fernando Marques Penteado designed a new body of work inspired by his frequent visits to Portugal since the 1970s, and a period of residence in Porto between 2014 and 2018....
Fernando Marques Penteado designed a new body of work inspired by his frequent visits to Portugal since the 1970s, and a period of residence in Porto between 2014 and 2018. The installation is entitled "Cultures on a map" and contains embroidered maps, flags and legends. The development of this body of work took as its starting point the ROTEP maps of Portugal Tourism, from the 1950s and 1960s, which the artist acquired in a bookshop in Lisbon. Each ROTEP map depicts one of Portugal's 272 counties. Their original design, with precise information and accompanied by curious comments, inspired the artist. Marques Penteado selected eight counties and interpreted them in drawings and embroidery, resulting in an installation that conceptually offers several entries: from ethnography to topography, from archeology to history, and the current role of tourism for the country. Other hand-embroidered works in the series, in cotton and wool, depict the traditional professions of the Fisherman or the Washerwoman, animals such as the lobster, and industries such as distilling and mining. If, at first glance, "Cultures on a map" seems to refer to the immediate Portuguese context, it also finds translation in one of Marques Penteado's favorite areas: the magnetic signs of the zodiac.