Alex D. da Silva

My work has always revolved around our relationship to the land, the spaces we inhabit and the ways they are reshaped, whether by human intervention or by nature itself. It is an exploration of memory, a testing of the tales we construct to make sense of ourselves.

The paintings are populated with symbols, shaped by a restless  imagination. I build them layering textures, adding and removing elements, weaving a visual story I continue to tell myself. They extend beyond the present moment, and might have several timelines. At the start of each new work, I return to that place, not from nostalgia or deliberate design, but because it is where the connections reside, where meaning and doubt gathers, and where I still find my way into painting.

History is inescapable, even when we choose to ignore it. Painting is my way of entering into dialogue with that narrative, and of grounding myself into our shared space.