Brazilian artist Arthur Palhano is currently participating in the residency programme of the Miettinen Collection, a renowned contemporary art collection in Berlin founded by Timo Miettinen. Known for its focus on painting, the collection features a diverse roster of international artists, with a particular emphasis on Finnish and German contemporary art. Originating from a core of 19th- and 20th-century Finnish landscape painting, Miettinen Collection has evolved into a dynamic platform for dialogue between historical and contemporary practices, frequently hosting exhibitions that invite artists to work on-site and engage directly with Berlin’s cultural context.

During his time in Berlin, Palhano has embraced the residency as both a creative retreat and an introspective journey. His studio notes (see pictures gallery below) reveal a process deeply tied to memory, sensory experience, and displacement:

“On my way back from the antique fair, I stop by the fruit market and buy some tangerines. The studio already smells like Brazil. The carpet is grey. The sky, almost always, too… When I opened the first tangerines, I began to feel at home.”

Between the muted greys of Berlin and the vivid recollections of his native Brazil, Palhano constructs a personal topography of belonging. His daily life—marked by encounters with crows, foxes, and the city’s subtle rhythms—blends with childhood memories from Del Castilho, Guapimirim, and Niterói.

“When I work, I return to childhood. Good memories, bad memories. I enter a flow that takes me far away… Sometimes I forget I’m in Berlin.”

In his paintings, recurring motifs such as gloves, peeled tree trunks, and magician’s locks resurface as fragments of an inner diary. As the artist himself notes, the studio becomes both a physical and emotional refuge—a place where routine gestures transform into acts of storytelling and self-reinvention.

“One day, Leiko Ikemura shows up at the studio and says that my work is like a diary. She’s right.”

Through the residency, which broadens the dialogue of his work with the international circuit, Arthur Palhano deepens his pictorial research on intimacy, memory and imagination, exploring new references and experiences in the artistic context of Berlin. In January 2026, the artist will present a new exhibition with the results of his experience at the Miettinen Collection.