This exhibition offers a journey through the ways in which China has profoundly influenced my artistic practice, drawing on three residencies undertaken between 2024 and 2025: Shangyu, Jingdezhen and Yixing. Throughout these periods of work, direct contact with local materials, production methods and the specific cultural contexts of each region transformed my relationship with ceramics — not merely as a technique, but as an artistic language. The works I produce in China are often radically different from those I create in Portugal.

This difference stems, first and foremost, from the material: working with porcelain — due to its difficulty, fragility and demands — compels me to adopt a different rhythm, a different scale of gesture and a focus on detail. The cultural and human landscape of these regions naturally seeps into my working method.

In Portugal, where I work mainly with stoneware and a wood-fired kiln, the material calls for a different approach: more physical, denser, more connected to the earth and the idea of permanence. These are two distinct languages that coexist within the same artistic practice.

It is not uncommon for those familiar with my work in Portugal to find the pieces created in China strange — some even go so far as to say that “they don’t look like mine”. This exhibition also stems from this apparent divide: from the desire to show that artistic identity is not fixed, but constructed through experience, territory and a willingness to transform.

The exhibition brings together sculptures made with materials sourced from different regions of China, presented in dialogue with photographs and videos of the working process, the studios, the landscapes and the places where the works were created. These records function as an integral part of the work, revealing time, gesture, error and adaptation.

The exhibition also incorporates a sound dimension, conceived as Sofia Beça is a ceramic sculptor and a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. She has been exhibiting internationally since 1997, developing a consistent career in the field of contemporary sculpture, with a presence in galleries and museums such as the Sargadelos Gallery (Madrid and Barcelona), Amakusa Ceramic Art (Japan), the González Martí National Ceramics Museum (Valencia), MIC – Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche (Faenza), the Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid and the Design Museum in Barcelona.

She has represented Portugal at various international symposia in Europe, Asia and South America, developing her work in dialogue with different cultural contexts, notably through artist residencies in China, Spain, Hungary and Italy. She was awarded 1st Prize at L’Alcora and at International Ceramics, 2nd Prize at the Aveiro and Martí Royo Biennales, and honourable mentions in Manises and Aveiro. She has also created murals in public and private spaces in Spain and Tunisia.

an immersive environment, with a sound installation by Jorge Queijo developed specifically for the exhibition space, enhancing the visitor’s experience and reinforcing the relationship between body, space and matter. More than an exhibition about travel, this project is a reflection on displacement, contamination and identity: how a foreign territory transforms an artist’s language — and how that transformation becomes a permanent part of her work.

Sofia Beça

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jorge Queijo — sound design Alberto Lopes · João Moreira · Jorge Arezes — editing Zhenghang Fu — video editing Rampa 125 Cultural Association Henrique Fernandes

Credits MIRA

Galleries | MIRA FORUM 

Direction Manuela Matos Monteiro and João Lafuente 

Communication Manuela Matos Monteiro and Beatriz Vital 

Assistant Beatriz Vital

Sofia Beça is a ceramic sculptor and a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. She has been exhibiting internationally since 1997, developing a consistent career in the field of contemporary sculpture, with a presence in galleries and museums such as the Sargadelos Gallery (Madrid and Barcelona), Amakusa Ceramic Art (Japan), the González Martí National Ceramics Museum (Valencia), MIC – Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche (Faenza), the Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid and the Design Museum in Barcelona.

She has represented Portugal at various international symposia in Europe, Asia and South America, developing her work in dialogue with different cultural context, notably through artist residencies in China, Spain, Hungary and Italy. She was awarded 1st Prize at L’Alcora and at International Ceramics, 2nd Prize at the Aveiro and Martí Royo Biennials, and honourable mentions in Manises and Aveiro. She has also created murals in public and private spaces in Spain and Tunisia.

Jorge Queijo is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound artist, producer and educator. He holds a degree in Jazz from the School of Music and Performing Arts of Porto, and a Master’s in Music Leadership from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He creates work for theatre, dance, television and sound installations, having created projects such as Blind Box and 1.12 mm in the brain, and directed the Gamelan Ensemble at Casa da Música.