Backpack Almanac orchestrates a clash between different ways of seeing and engaging with the world around us. Whereas an almanac is a booklet that collects and organizes data in neat categories, backpacking implies a more intuitive encounter with the world. But both in their own way express a desire to ‘know’ and ‘see’ the world.
The paintings and sculptures that Francisco Mendes Moreira (1984) presents in his new show with Everyday Gallery, take inspiration from this difference and overlap. Moreira’s works creates an ingenious mix between an organized and spontaneous engagement with the reality all around us. They are almanacs of chaos - vernacular objects, emblems, and symbols are scattered about - and contemplative landscapes which we can gaze upon with the eyes of a backpacker. While reveling rich textures and colors, Moreira invites us to reconsider the way we map, order, and ultimately interpret the world.