‘Threshold’ by Janice Deary

An exhibition of drawings and paintings inspired by the poetry of António Ramos Rosa.

Saborear a lenta emanação
do limiar. Sorver a alteridade.
Abrir a luz com deslumbradas mãos.
Traçar a fugidia figura da origem.

Savour the slow emanation
of the threshold. Sip otherness.
Open the light with dazzled hands.
Trace the elusive figure of origin.

I discovered the work of António Ramos Rosa during a residency in Portugal last year, after seeing a notice commemorating the centenary of the poet’s birth. I was immediately inspired by the beauty of Ramos Rosa’s profound and philosophical words.

Ramos Rosa writes from the threshold (o limiar), a place of desire for a more vital experience of being, an alliance with the pulse of creation. His poetry expresses a deep kinship with the elements, with trees, flowers, insects even, but there is also sense of longing, an ache at the awareness of the thin line that separates us from the otherness of our primordial origins. The paintings and drawings in this exhibition are inspired by Ramos Rosa’s meditations on the nature of existence, and the potential of the creative act to cross the threshold.

Janice Deary was born in South Africa, and later moved to Europe to pursue her studies in Philosophy. More recently, Janice’s attention has turned to art, although her interests remain broadly philosophical. Janice completed her MFA at Dundee University in 2020 and has since held a number of exhibitions in Scotland.