虛空 – 2026.04.09

Vanitas is a concept that symbolizes the impermanence of life, the futility of pleasure, and the inevitability of death. It serves as a reminder how ambition and earthly desires are transient. Vanitas in art is a form of allegorical expression that seeks to represent a higher ideal. This genre was initially developed by Dutch painters in the XVII Century during the Baroque Period and kept being revisited as a artistic way of transience of life.

This exhibition also aims to celebrate Poetry to express Vanitas, as it supports Rui Rocha’s book launch “A Oriente do Silêncio e outros Poemas” which will be subject of a dedicated book launch event.

Through poetry and painting, some artists from Macau explore the concept of Vanitas in poetry and traditional Chinese painting, enhancing matters such as of sorrow, longing and transience.

Through photography, Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro, Francisco Ricarte, João Palla, Sara Augusto and Shee Va, also living in Macau, explore the concept of Vanitas, in particular: by looking at Camilo Pessanha’s tomb, in Macau; by doing an interpretation of the impermanence of Egyptian rites of death as those shown in a recent exhibition; by stressing the relevancy of Sta Cruz cemetery in Timor Leste, as a symbol of national Identity and sorrow for those killed there; by highlighting the presence of religious structures and votive symbols within Macau’s temples and shrines; and by focusing on the presence of earthly and aesthetical manifestations of sorrow, longing and transience of life as those existing in the “Cemitério dos Prazeres”, in Lisbon.

In brief, in a time where over-information and media saturation surrounds and overwhelms us, it is important to understand how the concept of Vanitas, conveyed through Art and Poetry, may help to better understand ourselves, our communities and the societies where we live in.

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