FORTE, 2021

In Portuguese FORTE means ‘strong’. ‘Fort’ has historical meaning, it brings all the history of wars, self-defense and culture; a safe-haven, but also a strategic place from which to attack. It is a complex word because in Portuguese (and Latin?) it speaks about subjective strength; strength of character and the strength to sustain suffering. When you suffer consistently, for a prolonged period of time and survive, there is a barrier which you build to protect yourself and to hide behind - from which you can see the intruder coming and send them away before they can see you. The ‘fort’, internal ‘ fort’ is built. It also becomes an inner sense of ‘strength’ because it is a symbol of all that has been overcome. The strongest fort sustains invaders, bad weather and internal struggles.