Portal do retorno (Portal of return) is Dino D’Santiago’s first solo exhibition and unfolds as a visual ceremony of spiritual reparation. Rooted in the memory of the transatlantic slave trade, the project addresses the millions of African lives that were interrupted, erased, and denied ritual, mourning, and historical recognition. Rather than offering a purely historical reflection, the exhibition creates a space for collective remembrance, where art becomes a means of restoring presence and dignity to those whose stories were silenced.

Through a series of drawings made with India ink on coloured paper and card, Dino D’Santiago proposes a symbolic inversion of the so-called “Doors of No Return.” This gesture does not seek to reopen wounds, but to transform them, shifting the narrative from irreversible loss toward affirmation and continuity. The works imagine a passage back — not to the past as it was, but to a re-inscribed memory where identity and humanity are reclaimed.

The continuous, unbroken line that runs through the drawings assumes a clear political stance, refusing the fragmentation and silence imposed by historical violence. Colour emerges as a powerful agent within this process, asserting itself as a territory of plurality, resilience, and self-definition. Together, line and colour form a visual language that resists erasure and insists on remembrance, positioning Portal do Retorno as both an act of mourning and a declaration of enduring presence.