Portal

Portal presents large-scale portraits carved and burned into salvaged wooden doors, their weathered planks and peeling paint becoming the substrate for layered human likenesses. Vhils treats each door as an archaeological surface, scoring lines and tonal fields directly into the timber so that the material's prior life — scratches, hinges, oxidised paint — coexists with the rendered face. The fragmented, edge-on installation invites viewers to move along the works, revealing each portrait incrementally through shifting angles. Photos: Alexander Silva (MAGMA Communication).