Portugal National Day

“A Journey Through Art, Heritage, and Music”

To celebrate Portugal National Day, the Portuguese Business Council in Kuwait presents an exhibition  showcasing the country’s rich artistic heritage. The exhibition features Miguel Rodrigues’   “Hyperbaroque Collection” of sculptures and Manuel Correia’s “Loving Minho” series, a collection of twenty original photographs depicting traditional folk costumes from Northern Portugal.

Miguel Rodrigues is a Portuguese contemporary artist. His work employs the baroque period and its history as an object of reflection, arriving at what he calls “The Hyperbaroque”. His artworks are theatrical, inspired by the hyper-realities of society, the market and propaganda. Miguel’s work uses the colour gold, reinforcing the idea that being gold plated, creates an instant understanding of luxury and power, thereby playing with our perceptions of value and beauty. Pulling us by one arm into his dream land, and by the other to a far more familiar view of reality.

Manuel Correia, a photographer since 1986, has been inspired by traditional culture. Over the last two decades he has worked all over the world photographing people and places, in urban and peripheral daily life. In different contexts, he takes on an imaginary nomadic register of distant and disparate peoples and cultures. He devotes part of his artistic activity to more conceptual contemporary photography projects, with the participation of researchers and curators, which have resulted in various publications and exhibitions, including “Sangue e Água”, “Portugueses de Portugal”, and “Os Africanos” at the Afrobrasil museum in São Paulo, Brazil. Currently, he is working on a project in Angola about its kings and traditional power, which will be published later in 2024. His photographs are part of various private and institutional collections, both nationally and internationally.

We are greatly thankful to all sponsors whose support was crucial in organizing this event.

Miguel Rodrigues

Miguel Rodrigues is a Portuguese contemporary sculptor artist. He studied Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon.

His work employs the baroque period and its history as an object of reflection, what he calls

‘The Hyperbaroque’. His artworks are theatrical, inspired by the hyper-realities of society, the

market and propaganda. Miguel’s work uses the colour gold, reinforcing the idea that gold

plated creates an instant understanding of luxury and power; hereby playing with our

perceptions of value and beauty. He now shows his works throughout Portugal, across

Europe, Turkey, and more recently, in Dubai and Bahrain. He also collaborated with

important Heritage European sites such as the Catherine Palace (St Petersburg), the Skapi

Sabanci Museum (Istanbul), and the Mayer Van den Bergh Museum (Antwerp).

Manuel Correia

Manuel Correia, a photographer since 1986, has been inspired by traditional culture. Over the

last two decades he has worked all over the world photographing people and places, in urban

and peripheral daily life. In different contexts, he takes on an imaginary nomadic register of

distant and disparate peoples and cultures. He devotes part of his artistic activity to more

conceptual contemporary photography projects, with the participation of researchers and

curators, which have resulted in various publications and exhibitions, including “Sangue e

Agua”, “Portugueses de Portugal”, and “Os Africanos” at the Afrobrasil museum in Sao Paulo,

Brazil. Currently, he has been working on a project in Angola about its kings and traditional

power, which will be published later in 2024. His photographs are part of various private and

institutional collections, both Nationally and Internationally.

In Kuwait, he will show a collection of traditional folk costumes from the north of Portugal.

João Diogo Leitão

João Diogo Leitão has won some of the most important classical guitar awards from Portugal.

He holds a Master Degree in Classical Guitar Performance from the prestigious The Hague

Royal Conservatory (The Netherlands). Many concerts as soloist with the most important

Portuguese orchestras and presentations in all the major Portuguese concert halls, have

confirmed Joao as one of the most prominent young musicians and guitarists of his

generation. He released his debut solo album, “Por Onde Fica a Primavera”, in 2020 and has

been touring his work since then. For the first time in Kuwait, he will play Viola Braguesa, a

traditional acoustic guitar from the north of Portugal, usually associated with traditional/folk music.