sofia pereira - Só eu sei a dor! - 2020s

This painting uses irony to question the praxe culture in Portugal and how certain experiences of violence and humiliation are often normalized. In the foreground, a pair of women's academic dress shoes bears a red stain on the sole, while the phrase “Só Eu Sei a Dor” seems at first glance to reference the banal idea that the greatest difficulty of academic life is the physical discomfort caused by footwear.

However, this reading proves to be only a façade. The true narrative lies on the university cover, where eyes and spirals hide among the folds of the fabric. These elements symbolize all the stories of abuse, humiliation and psychological violence that have marked, for decades, the Portuguese praxe tradition. The eyes represent the silenced victims, the witnesses who saw everything, and the collective memory of these episodes; the spirals evoke cycles of repetition, manipulation, and the perpetuation of practices that continue to be justified in the name of tradition.

By contrasting the apparent superficiality of physical pain with the invisible weight of emotional traumas, the work denounces how easily deeply impactful experiences are minimized. The title thus becomes a sharp critique: the true pain was never that of the shoes, but the one that remained hidden beneath the cloak, invisible to the eyes of those who prefer not to acknowledge it.

Format: A4
Paper: Matte Couché 350 g/m²
Condition: Perfect.