Gabriela Barbosa

Gabriela Barbosa
17/06/1982
São Paulo, Brazil

I am a woman who has taken ownership of her own life.
I am the youngest daughter in my family, and I chose the path of respecting myself and following my own desires. I studied Biomedicine, worked for years in the pharmaceutical industry, was engaged… At 30, I realised that none of that was what I wanted anymore. Today, I do exactly what I want. I value deeply the freedom I have to decide my movements and the choices that brought me here. As women, we are not taught to choose ourselves. Beyond practising this in my own life, I encourage other women to do the same.
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I arrived in Porto with 300 euros in my pocket, a 21 kg suitcase, and confidence. I had never lived alone, I knew no one, and I had no support network. I left an environment surrounded by people who cared for me, and suddenly I was in a place where no one knew who I was. I spent 22 days inside a 15 m² studio, locked inside that space, afraid to go out because I knew no one and had very little money, since it was the holiday period and I had no contract. I learned a great deal from my own demons, from fears I did not even know I had.
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People in Porto are very proud of their city, and that was one of the first things that struck me when I started living here. The story told by the monument in the Rotunda da Boavista has always taken me to a parallel place in my migrant experience: resistance. Just as the Lion resisted the Eagle’s invasion, I also see myself as resistant within a space where I (we) are seen as “invaders”…
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Casa Odara represents many groups of people who are considered marginalised within society. Art, when created by these dissident groups, is not always valued. As an association, we can be a vehicle to support those who want to develop ideas and projects. Casa Odara fuels and vibrates energy so that we are all together in the daily struggle of existence and resistance.