Inês Mendes Leal: Reaching for Fata Morgana

Inês Mendes Leal presents her first solo exhibition, *Reaching for Fata Morgana*, at Galeria da Boavista in Lisbon. The show draws on the optical phenomenon of fata morgana, which distorts perception through extreme thermal differences, observed and documented by the artist during a residency in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Leal constructs a multimedia installation that oscillates between the lyrical and the synthetic, building on her recent practice exploring air and wind through sound and video pieces. The exhibition unfolds as a sensory crescendo: a soundscape composed from field recordings gradually destabilizes the visitor's journey, from nearly imperceptible to increasingly dense.

The title reinforces the experience of reaching for a horizon that constantly shifts. Curated by Francisca Portugal, the installation features a twelve-channel sound piece, passive full-range speakers, acrylic, metal, and cork.