three wooden modules, spices, 170 x 122 x 20 cm per module
Pedro Pereira’s work consists of three letters—F, E, and L—created as three-dimensional forms and covered with pan masala, an Indian spice blend. Scattered throughout the space, the letters create a visual interplay as the viewer moves through them. He rearranges them, constructs or deconstructs their meaning, and assembles them in various combinations; for example, “Fel,” which means “bitterness” in Portuguese, when read backward as “LEF,” evokes the initials of France’s motto, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
According to the Portuguese–French dictionary, the term “fel” has several meanings (fel n. 1. gall, bitterness; 2. bile; “encher de fel” means “to fill with gall”; “fazer-se de fel e vinagre” means “to become bitter”; “ser pomba sem fel” means “to have no gall”). Here, sensory cues—the taste that leaves a feeling of disappointment in the mouth, the scent of spices, their appealing colors, and the physicality of the object—are a way for Pedro Pereira to place the sensory and physical experience of the artwork at the center of his work. The play on words “FEL” and “LEF” highlights this experience—personal, yet collective—of displacement and uprooting, with all that it entails: hope, novelty, curiosity, and the confrontation with a reality far removed from grand declarations of intent.
