Teresa Couto Pinto

The singer, composer and performer, António Variações (1944-1984) stood out for the originality of his voice, the inventiveness of his poems and musical compositions, and the unconventional way he dressed and presented himself, challenging the norms of his time. Even after his death, Variações continues to be sung and reinterpreted over the years by different generations, which proves the quality of his work, the revolutionary force of his iconic image, and the reason why he will always be an essential reference in Portuguese music.

The photography exhibition Meu nome António (My name is António) presents 85 photographs by Teresa Couto Pinto (b. 1955), who was an agent, photographer and, above all, a friend of António Variações. This exhibition features several of the photo shoots she did with the artist between 1981 and 1983, where Variações’ strong personality, creative freedom, charisma and visual aesthetics are evident, as well as his ease, confidence and complicity with Teresa Couto Pinto. It was from these photo shoots that some of António Variações’s iconic images were born, such as the one in which he pretends to stab himself in the chest with a pair of scissors or the one in which he is portrayed with a barber’s scissors and a microphone.

In addition to well-known and lesser-known photographs, some of which have never been seen before, this exhibition also features items of clothing and accessories worn by Variações. Visitors can thus gain a better understanding of his personal style and how he recreated himself through the collective Portuguese identity that he never abandoned, while always drawing inspiration from the cosmopolitan reality of international artistic movements and sounds. The clothes and accessories he designed or chose to wear, the cuts and colours of his hair and beard, and the eye make-up that intensified his gaze, are also part of the uniqueness and timelessness of the man who will always be António Variações.

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