London. Helena Almeida's new works at the Frieze art fair

New works by artist Helena Almeida, studied by a team of researchers from the Department of Conservation and Restoration at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, are being unveiled this Wednesday at the Frieze art fair in London.

The Frieze London Contemporary Art Fair, taking place between this Wednesday and Sunday, features galleries from Portugal, Brazil and Angola, and a new section dedicated to diaspora artists, Echoes in the Present , focusing on expressions of African origin, including representatives from the two Portuguese-speaking countries.

Running parallel to Frieze London is Frieze Masters, focusing on 20th-century works, old masters, and antiques. The two events are located in Regent's Park and feature a combined 280 galleries from 45 countries, according to the organizers' website.

At Frieze London, among 160 contemporary art galleries, there will be the Portuguese Vera Cortês, Madragoa and Pedro Cera, all based in Lisbon, as well as Galeria Francisco Fino, which will present, until Sunday, the exhibition dedicated to Helena Almeida, with around two dozen works, in the section of the great masters of the visual arts.

The works in question were created by Helena Almeida after the 25th of April Revolution, between 1974 and 1980. They exemplify her typical mixed media approach, which combines photography, drawing, horsehair thread, and paint. Most of them were found in the artist's studio. According to the investigation, some of them have never been exhibited in public.

This research was developed in the context of preparing the exhibition for Frieze, by a team from the Faculty of Science and Technology of Universidade Nova (Nova FCT), composed of researchers Élia Roldão, Joana Sobral, Ana Rosalino and Susana França de Sá.

The “broad study” developed focused on the “material characterization and conservation of a representative set” of “complex and challenging” works by the Portuguese artist, which led to the definition of “essential steps” for their safeguarding, indicates the statement about the exhibition.

The diagnosis of each of the pieces, according to Nova FCT researchers, "allowed us to identify the types of photographic paper, paints and mounts most used by Helena Almeida, define safe conservation and restoration methodologies, recover the aesthetic interpretation of the works and develop a set of good practices for their exhibition — including the artist's preferences regarding the form of presentation in galleries and museums."

Quoted in the statement, researcher Élia Roldão explains that the results of the study proved to be "essential for understanding the artist's production techniques and her intentional selection of materials," from photographic papers to frames, "based on the aesthetic explorations she developed throughout the 1970s."

This characterization also proved to be “decisive for the definition of appropriate conservation, restoration and exhibition strategies”, in addition to contributing “to reviewing and improving existing practices in public and private institutions”.

By "filling a significant gap in technical and methodological knowledge surrounding the characterization, conservation, and presentation of this type of work," the study takes on "a truly pioneering character," argues Élia Roldão.

As for the other Portuguese galleries at Frieze, Vera Cortês brings works by Carlos Bunga, Daniel Blaufuks, Gabriela Albergaria, Joana Escoval, João Louro, Daniel Gustav Cramer and Susanne Themlitz; Madragoa, works by Luís Lázaro Matos to the “Focus” section, dedicated to supporting emerging galleries, those less than 12 years old, which in this edition of the fair brings together around 40 participants; and Galeria Pedro Cera, with works by Gil Heitor Cortesão, Bruno Pacheco, Monica Mays, Anna Hulacová, Antonio Ballester Moreno and Beckhbaatar Enkhtur.

For Frieze Masters, Galeria Perve presents an exhibition of 40 works by Mozambican artist Teresa Roza d'Oliveira (1945—2019), “the first woman born in a Portuguese-speaking country to be featured in the Spotlight section”, according to the Lisbon gallery.

In this edition, Frieze London will also debut the Echoes in the Present section, curated by Jareh Das, dedicated to connections between artists from Brazil, Africa and their diasporas.

"These ties are rooted in shared histories, marked by the forced movement of African peoples across the Atlantic, and sustained by ongoing cultural exchange," reads the text about the new section, published on the fair's website.

A selection of ten artists, whose work addresses themes of transformation, colonial erasure and belonging, in which land, memory and material are intimately linked, presents works from diverse practices, some of them from four galleries in Brazil and one in Angola.

Among the group of selected artists are Aline Mota (Mitre Gallery, from Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Brazil), Diambe (Simões de Assis Gallery, from the cities of São Paulo, Curitiba, Balneário and Camboriú), Tadáskía (Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel Gallery, from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), Alberto Pitta (Nara Roesler Gallery, from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro/New York), and Sandra Poulson and Lilianne Kiame (Jahmek Contemporary Art Gallery, from Luanda, Angola).

Also participating in this new section are African artists Bunmi Agusto (Tafetá Gallery, London, United Kingdom), Serigne Mbaye Câmara (Atiss Gallery Dakar, Senegal), Mélinda Fourn and Naomi Lulendo (Selebe Yoon Gallery, Dakar).

A meeting point for collectors, curators, artists and other cultural agents, the event also organizes Frieze Sculpture, a free public art initiative curated by Fatos Üstek, taking place since September 17th, in the gardens of Regent's Park, where it will remain until November 2nd.

The results of the research on Helena Almeida's work were published in the scientific journal Studies in Conservation , from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works , in the article Collecting and Producing New Documentation to Support Curatorial and Conservation Decisions in Helena Almeida's Mixed-media Photography .