This exhibition takes as its starting point two texts by the philosopher and ethologist Vinciane Despret, specifically Autobiography of an Octopus and Living Like a Bird. Through a visual transcription of these books, Vera Matos creates images that evoke rhizomes, webs, tentacles, mycelia, and other organic, decentralized forms that symbolize the interconnectedness and multiplicity of voices and languages coexisting in the world.

José Vera’s representations aim not only to question the supremacy of human language but also to draw attention to the infinite variety of non-human communication systems surrounding us. The goal is to understand that language is not only a means of communication but also a tool that structures our perception of reality, through which we construct meanings, norms, and systems of thought that can reinforce dominant power structures, such as the market economy and the singular worldview.

José Vera Matos