THE SALT PROJECT
2017 - present
​
​
“(...) Cosmic time is the same for everyone, but human time differs from person to person. Time flows the same way for all people; but each human being flows through time differently. ”
- Yasunary Kawabata, in Beauty and Sorrow
​
experiments with spray glue and sea salt
​
Constantly growing, this project is always open to new formats, elements, research and experiments. It started to appear naturally in previous projects so I decided to explore the reason for that unconscious attraction to salt. It all starts with the curiosity about this material. Then comes the writing, the research, the exploration - The results are not immediate - A process is an action that unfolds in time at its own pace without any hurry or final goal. It is just a constant search.
​​​​​​​​
The starting point was understanding the different types of salt, its origins and its production. Portugal has several salt pans and salt rock extraction points. At the beginning of my project, it was important for me to visit these places, to understand their production process and to talk with local workers about the salt's culture. This was essential to understand the material, the tradition and its possibilities.
Ecomuseum Marinha da Troncalhada, Aveiro, Portugal
​
After understanding the extraction process of sea salt, notebooks of poems and sketches emerged. I brought them together in a set of process notebooks that ranged from my visit to the salt pans to all kinds of experiments with the material. I explored the evaporation process of salt water and tested the action of salt on iron in fabric, creating unexpected and organic patterns. I tried to understand how I could fix the solidified salt, and I even started a collection of salt from different parts of the world. It was also important to understand in which different contexts salt is found and what functions it can have in our society: from cleaning the ice on the roads to preserving food.
experiments with white glue and sea salt
​
​
experiments with ceramics and sea salt
the salt appears as a finishing.
It was explored what relationship we can establish between clay and salt.
​
​
Salting meat improves its natural flavor. Perhaps salt will improve me, improve my changing meat. Salting meat also preserves it: I would like to have preserved what I once was - salting a better part of myself.
​