These four works from the Malmö series are examples of an early stage of Pedro Barateiro's artistic work and refer to the period when the artist studied in Sweden. The highly industrialised city of Malmö, which has been reinventing itself in a problematic adaptation to a post-industrial reality, seems to be the primary reference of this set of mixed technique on photographic prints. Portraying the somewhat typical scenario of the hectic and perpetual construction of urban space, the artist introduces a gestural interpretation of traces from the hustle and bustle of building sites, commenting on the current condition of Western society.

The subjective view of everyday life, to which many will be able to relate, is worked and deconstructed with painting elements. Shapes that cut and challenge the composition, some systematic and well delimited, others wandering and denouncing the painter's gesture, frame these de-contextualized and chaotic views without arranging them.

By the deliberate choice of titles, there is a clear connection to philosophical discourse which informed the artistic practice. The piece - Para Derrida
seems to serve as a dedication to the French philosopher of Aragonese origin, a central figure in the theory of post-modernism and still very relevant in contemporary art studies. Such theories serve as tools for reading the environment represented in the photographs. The remaining works in the series show the triviality of such scenarios in today's complex social and political context, visible in the inevitable materialist deconstruction of the Western lifestyle, as one of the titles, - Um dia como outro qualquer
, illustrates.

This series thus becomes a relevant document of Barateiro's keen eye for the environment in which he moves and is inserted, from which he has developed numerous works that act as agents of reflection and criticism of relevant current issues.

DC

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