“In reality, life isn’t a clean thing. Recognising this would go halfway towards making it less dirty, or, in other words, towards the possibility of making ourselves happier.”

Ana Cristina Leonardo

Vera Mantero’s work moves between two necessities: the questioning of subjectivity and the interaction with the outside world (of which human beings are an integral part). The Clean and the Dirty focuses on the umbilical relationship between these two practices, placing them in the debate about the sustainability of the human presence on the planet. Where the ecological discourse maintains that we need to change our lifestyle and our relationship with the environment, Mantero sees a parallel with artistic practices, particularly in relation to the performing arts. “There is a significant place for the body in these questions (...) it is the place that favours the activation of the senses and of thought, and which intensifies our relationship with everything around us. All of this has to do with energy, movement, intensity and desire, and that is what creates meaning in life.”

The Clean and the Dirty was awarded five stars in the Público newspaper, and was chosen as one of the best shows in 2016 by the weekly newspaper Expresso.