Evas takes as his starting point a collection of books inherited by Maria Durão after the death of her maternal grandmother. Maria rips, glues and scratches the covers of these books, transforming them into the objects of contemplation that we now see on display. From the previous literary content, loose words remain. Words that whisper the feminine experience of the three generations that separate the library's custodians. Experiences of resilience that, throughout history, persist as open wounds in contemporary society.

Among common nouns such as 'book', 'place' or 'smoke', a proper name emerges: Eve. The first female name in the Judeo-Christian tradition and also the symbol of the initial archetype of submission and rebellion. According to the Bible, despite warnings, Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge and offered it to Adam, who blamed her for his failure to protect himself from God's wrath, thus inaugurating a sacrificial position for all women, which lasted until today.

Books and the apple act, then, as symbols of access to knowledge, autonomy and emancipation. Each work by Maria Durão is a time capsule that simultaneously carries traces of a past full of restrictions and an expectant present. By intervening on the books, the artist not only preserves the memory of these artefacts, but re-signifies them in an act of subtle rebellion against the norms that silenced so many voices. — Vera Carmo