I was in the elevator waiting to get to my destination floor. Distracted on my cell phone, I suddenly feel someone pulling my hair and then saying: “- it's soft, right?”. Situations like this have already happened in Brazil, but in Portugal, and in Europe in general, it was too recurrent. On the street, on buses, in bars, at parties, even in a hospital. These invasive attitudes reveal the look of exotification to black phenotypes.

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The work Don't Touch makes reference to the warning signs of Museums and Cultural Spaces that warn to don't touch the works of art. The same goes for afro hair (and bodies) that are, in fact, true works of art, and should not be touched without proper authorization and care.

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The work unfolds in an urban intervention carried out in the city of Porto, in Portugal, in which the image placed on the streets - which is my size, 1.83 m - causes strangeness, changes in the landscape and passers-by, as well as a warning for Portugal: Don't Touch.

 

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Photography and urban intervention, 2020.