“As if there was nothing else” is a documentary directed by Sibila Lind about Querubim Lapa, one of the most famous Portuguese ceramists of the 20thcentury. More than the life of the artist and his artworks, we can see his intimate, fragile moments. It isn’t the typical portrait of the artist as an icon and his masterpieces, but a love story.
Querubim Lapa was already known as the “Master” in the halls of António Arroio School when Susana appeared in one of his pottery classes. He was 53 years old, she was 17. They stayed together, split and remained apart for 17 years until they reunited. Querubim, known as the most important Portuguese ceramist of the 20th century, found in Susana his main source of inspiration. In their house, the paintings, notebooks and tiles that fill the rooms have all one thing in common: a portrait.
Sibila was already part of Susana and Querubim’s life for a few months, when she asked Querubim to tell his story (recounted below):
She sat on the armchair, he on the couch, “so, what do you want to know?” he asked.
“Everything” Sibila replied.
“No, no. Everything is too much.”
She couldn’t tell if it was because he thought they didn’t have enough time or that he had already told her too much. In the end Sibila decided to start from the first moment Querubim saw Susana.
Querubim died on 2nd May, 2016 and he never saw the final result of the documentary. Despite the fact that Querubim was 90 years old no one had expected him to, he died suddenly. He said in a conversation to Sibila that “the difference between life and death was being and not being anymore. Almost like going back to the mother’s womb, where we all have been before but don’t remember it.”
In his life he made two hundred portraits of Susana and his wish was to continue with them.
A special screening of “As if there was nothing else” – Como se não existisse nada – will be held at Rio Cinema on the 26th November at 11.30am. The film is accompanied by a Q&A with the director Sibila Lind and Susana Lapa, the wife of Querubim Lapa.
For more information please visit our Facebook event here
Tickets are available on Eventbrite
Inês Marques
Inês Marques (b. 1990, Lisbon) completed her Masters at Central Saint Martins, University Arts of London, on the course “Material Futures,” which encourages designers to have a critical and social point of view within the development process of their projects. Inês received her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Lisbon (Portugal) in Multimedia Art – Installation and Performance. As a London based designer/artist she is always engaging with culture in her work, and has created collaborative projects such as “D-ACT” with Valentina Coraglia that aims to preserve our own heritage.
Sibila Lind (b. 1990, Braga) graduated in Multimedia Arts, in 2011, in the University of Fine Arts in Lisbon and four years later finished her Master in Journalism with an honourable mention. She won the Journalism award “Gazeta Revelação” in 2015 and currently works as a multimedia journalist in the Portuguese newspaper PÚBLICO. Photographer, filmmaker and journalist, she intends to connect storytelling with the visual universe of art.
CuratingtheContemporary (CtC) 