Without a Past

Felícia Pinho Oliveira

14 sep – 09 nov 2024
Mira Forum

  • Exhibitions
  • Porto

Curators: Manuela Matos Monteiro and João Lafuente

Without a Past

‘Sem Passado’ is a project about the archives of the Casa da Roda in Porto and the memories of those who lived there.

The place called Casa da Roda was an institution designed to take in children who had been anonymously abandoned by their parents. It existed in Porto between the 17th and 19th centuries and had three different facilities over time, of which no trace remains.

The children were usually abandoned with their layette and an object of many different kinds that distinguished them from the others. This object was called a ‘sign’ and would allow the child to be reclaimed unequivocally in the future. The focus of this project is precisely the ‘signs’ that marked the children of Roda do Porto. The project also includes the Roda books, as well as the spaces of the Porto District Archive, which holds this immense collection of more than 180 metres of documentation.

‘Sem Passado’ aims to portray the aesthetics of abandonment in the 19th century and recover the memory of children who were doubly neglected, by society and by history.

Mira Forum
R. de Miraflor 159, Porto

Opening Hours:

Wednesday – Saturday
15:00–19:00

Sunday – Tuesday
Closed