© Mónica Samões
© Mónica Samões

CLOSE-UP: Artist book by Ana Borralho & João Galante

CLOSE-UP, by Ana Borralho & João Galante, is an intimate portrait of the twenty years of artistic production of the creative duo. In this book, the dialogue established between the more than two hundred photographs, the drawings, the e-mails exchanged and the texts of this singular artistic corpus is revealing of great obstinacy and thematic coherence. Moving at the crossroads of performance art, dance and theatre, photography, installation, sound and video, Ana Borralho & João Galante investigate the boundaries between public and private, body and mind, sex and gender, composing a unique universe in the panorama of contemporary creation, both in Portugal and abroad. CLOSE-UP brings us the intimacy of this work, the methodical exercise of nudity until the dilution of gender, a beautiful day at the beach, travel preparations, the careful search for what can be put in the sensual gestures, and also the banal, a stop to pee, rehearsals, a bouncy castle – life as a work of art – and the disturbing game of looking, which is, after all, looking at ourselves.

Read an extract here.


Edition: Orfeu Negro
Bilingual edition: PT / EN
Editorial Coordination: Liliana Coutinho
Texts: Rui Catalão, André Tecedeiro / Gisela Casimiro, João Grosso, Liliana Coutinho, Marcelo Expósito, Ana Borralho and Joana Flor Duarte
Photographs: Ana Borralho, André Uerba, Arthur Pequin, Bruno Simão, Colectivo Sub-reptício, Daniel Matos, Estelle Valente, Filipe Ferreira, João Galante, Leonor Fonseca, Patrícia Leal, Sofia Trindade, Tiago Gandra, Vasco Célio
Drawings and Paintings: João Galante
E-mails: Ana Borralho, André Uerba, Andrea Sozzi, Antonia Buresi, Catarina Gonçalves, Cátia Leitão, Joana Flor Duarte, Francisca Santos, Fernando J. Ribeiro, João Galante, José Miguel Silva, José Pelicano, Pablo Fidalgo, Pedro Augusto, Rodrigo Garcia, Ronnie from Berlim, Tiago Gandra, Tiago Rodrigues
Translation: Miguel Romeira, from portuguese, texts from Rui Catalão, João Grosso, André Tecedeiro / Gisela Casimiro, Marcelo Expósito, Liliana Coutinho, Ana Borralho; Guilherme Pires, from spanish, text from Marcelo Expósito; Ana Borralho, João Galante, José Pelicano, from portuguese and french, e-mails

Graphic conception: André Príncipe and José Pedro Cortes
1ST EDITION 2022 / N.º PP. 342 / FORMAT 17,1 x 24,3 cm / EAN 9789899071520
For sale at: Orfeu Negro, Wook, Livraria Snob, Fnac, Almedina