Friendly Fire

With the following artists:
Killa Was Here, Madalena Anjos and Tiago Evangelista.

text by Márcia R. Teixeira,

The title of the exhibition harks back to an old expression, associated with times of war. Friendly fire... the one that destroys without intending to. I wonder how two concepts that are born separate can coexist so well. On one hand, friendship, affection, care, something or someone that makes us feel comfortable, safe. On the other hand, fire, combustion, destruction. It is not by mere coincidence that these concepts coexist. They coexist because the space we inhabit is dual, and today’s belief can be tomorrow’s fatal action.

The human being, therefore, ambiguous, has in their hands the power of both destruction and construction. However, choosing one of them is almost impossible. As dual beings, we walk between good and evil, acting according to time, space, and place. But, sometimes, chance happens, and the action that was meant to be good ends up becoming its opposite. Something that does not make us less human, just human.

All the artists present in this exhibition explore this duality and ambiguity in different ways, reflecting the complexity of “Friendly Fire” in their works. Through different perspectives and mediums, Killa Was Here, Madalena Anjos, and Tiago Evangelista invite us to reflect on the duality of human experience.

Killa Was Here, works on ambiguity through their characteristic symbols and vibrant colors. The smile that is present in most of their works, despite immediately conveying a positive feeling, is also ambiguous. By presenting itself with a tear in the left eye, we quickly realize that this graphic representation shows how something, apparently friendly, can conceal a painful reality, reflecting the tension between appearance and underlying emotion.

Madalena Anjos, presents works that ask for special attention to the subtleties that compose them. In Samples, the artist explores the idea of an archive, storing images, matter, and symbols in an explanatory way. In the series of drawings, collages, and schemes called Psychogeographic Studio, Madalena explores creation through fragments of images, artistic and literary references. This practice of recombining diverse elements is a visual metaphor for the concept of “Friendly Fire,” where intentions and consequences intertwine in unexpected ways.

Finally, Tiago Evangelista shows us a series of works that, according to the artist, are: “... a series of paintings that celebrate the best and yet the most painful of the human experience.” Tiago’s works capture the inherent duality of the human condition, where love and pain often coexist. This paradox is at the heart of the concept of “Friendly Fire”.