José Saramago Sea Portrait

Depicting Portuguese writer and Nobel laureate José Saramago (1922–2010), the project undertaken in Paimogo beach, Portugal, falls within a cycle of works that Alexandre Farto aka Vhils began in 2015 with the portrait of Portuguese writer Valter Hugo Mãe which seeks to pay tribute to great writers and their connection to the sea.

Created on a stone-and-cement access ramp that lies half-submerged in high tide, the work is based on the artist’s original bas-relief carving technique developed in the scope of his globally acclaimed Scratching the Surface project.

Inspired by and alluding to Saramago’s novel “The Stone Raft”, the flowing seawater brings the piece to life, creating a poetic interplay between the carved portrait and the elements. The location was selected for its natural beauty and isolation and for the power of its shifting tides that enable to imprint a variety of moods onto the carved work.