Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão: Between Your Teeth is an exhibition bringing together two major artists at Centro Gulbenkian in Lisbon until 22nd September. It features nearly 80 works spanning over six decades, and including paintings, engravings, sculptures, and installations. It is a fascinating encounter between two artists from different generations, Paula Rego (Lisbon, 1935 – London, 2022) and Adriana Varejão (Rio de Janeiro, 1964).

Curated by Adriana Varejão, Helena de Freitas and Victor Gorgulho, with scenography by Daniela Thomas, the exhibition explores surprising connections between the two artists. Marked by dynamics of power and oppression, especially in relation to women, the violence and eroticism of the works will unsettle, provoke and linger in visitors’ memories, long after seeing them.

The title—Between Your Teeth—is taken from the 1974 “Poemas aos homens do nosso tempo” (Poems to the men of our time) by Brazilian poet and novelist Hilda Hilst. In a clear allusion to the dictatorial regime that had ruled Brazil over the previous ten years, Hilst denounces the power associated to greed, conquest, profit and exploitation.

Through their portrayals of both literal and metaphorical bodies, Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão explore the intertwined impacts of patriarchy, colonialism, and systemic oppression. Their works confront the viewer head-on, as if declaring: “Our work is what’s caught between your teeth.” Together, their practices embody both the weight of oppression and the fierce presence of resistance.

This is the artists’ second joint exhibition, for which Adriana Varejão is presenting a newly produced work. Towards the end of Paula Rego’s life the two artists held an exhibition in Rio de Janeiro (Carpintaria, 2017)—Paula Rego’s first and only exhibition in that city.

Unfolding over 13 thematic rooms, the exhibition proposes an immersive dramaturgy. Each space, imbued with a domestic atmosphere, reveals new dimensions of the two artists’ psychological depth and imaginative power. This is a must-see show this Spring and Summer.