msdm a nomadic house-studio-gallery for photographic art and curatorial research, an expanded practice of the artist's book, photobook publishing and peer-to-peer collaboration created by contemporary artist paula roush
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  Ergoterapia

  Júlio de Matos Hospital, Lisbon
  Photobook: 13×20 cm, 100 pages
 

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Reflecting on a photographic journey that delves into our deep, intimate relationship with nature—a story of interconnection, vulnerability, and presence. This work explores the body’s entanglement with the vegetal, moving between the surreal and mythological to the raw and symbiotic, portraying humans as part of a broader ecological narrative.

Ergoterapia is a photobook that documents a two-week immersion in one of Lisbon’s psychiatric hospitals—a period spent curating an exhibition and connecting with the hospital’s spaces and people: residents, therapists, archivists, gardeners, and visitors. Through these interactions, an elliptical narrative emerged, tracing the hospital’s historical and contemporary practices of occupational and creative therapies.

Using organic materials from the park, the photography of ephemeral, performative actions captures traces of these activities in the galleries, libraries, and surrounding landscapes. The resulting work contrasts forms of care and control, while paying homage to the resilience of the hospital’s residents.


 


Photography: paula roush
Performance: Inês Amado 

 


Available as print on demand

contact

paula roush   :::   paularoush@gmail.com
msdm studio :::      msdm@msdm.org.uk