Tiles

In Elsa Ribeiro's azulejos, a centuries-old Portuguese technique meets a contemporary eye, one attuned above all to the coastal landscape that surrounds her in Aljezur. Each piece takes as its starting point the traditional azulejo format — that flat, modular surface which Portugal has shaped into a language all its own, present on façades, churches and public spaces throughout the country — and uses it as a ground on which to inscribe motifs ranging from the sea to rural tradition.
The repertoire is varied yet coherent: barnacles covering the surface in tight, repeating patterns; octopuses whose tentacles stretch out in movement across the azulejo's geometric space; waves that bring the rhythm of water into the piece; and further references to Portuguese everyday life. Running through each theme is the same care: relief worked by hand, which invites touch as much as sight, and colour conceived to evoke — without ever literally imitating — the tones of the coastline and the land.
Designed for standalone pieces as well as for larger compositions — panels that tell a story across several pieces, such as the "Ciclo do Pão" ["Cycle of Bread"] panel created for Padaria do Rogil — Elsa Ribeiro's azulejos bring together the robustness and tradition of a centuries-old technique with the sensibility of someone who lives close to the sea and watches its rhythms and textures with close attention.