Albert Camus and Damien Hirst: Always looking on the absurd side of life

The aim of this text is to consider the notions of life and art, revealed in Camus’s texts, mainly The Myth of Sisyphus (published in French in 1942) and The Rebel (1951), and extrapolate them to the present state of contemporary art by analysing a few artworks by Damien Hirst, the richest living artist, a modern Sisyphus in the self-awareness he manifests towards the incongruity of his work. Always looking on the absurd side of life dwells on the inevitability of life and art, accepting the fact, according to Camus’s words, that: the impossible remains impossible. Instead of denying the meaningless and finding some form of redemption, both French writer and British artist have embraced this potential and have used the absurd as a form of conveying meaning to their art. Hirst’s artworks that will be referred in this text include the series: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991); Mother and Child Divided (1993); For the Love of God (2007) and For Heaven’s Sake (2008).

O quotidiano na clausura feminina eborense e a presença de população escrava: a fronteira entre o servir das portas adentro e das portas afora no período moderno

Resumo: Apesar da existência de anteriores estudos, tanto em termos nacionais como regionais, e que demonstram a forte presença de escravos em Évora nos séculos XV e XVI, localizar a população escrava na documentação de instituições religiosas femininas da cidade e entender a sua condição de vida nessas comunidades não se revela fácil. Muitas das referências à sua existência são indiretas, ao fazerem parte de um dote ou doação (constando como bens a que se atribui um determinado valor), que podia ser testamentária, de partilhas e sentenças. São também de difícil perceção as tarefas desempenhadas no quotidiano de espaços claustrais, especialmente os femininos, sujeitos às exigências pós-tridentinas. Só com a apresentação de alguns casos, a juntar aos já conhecidos, poderemos sugerir algumas considerações sobre esta matéria. Abstract: Despite the existence of previous studies, both national and regional, studies that demonstrate a strong presence of slaves in Évora in the 15th and 16th centuries, locating them in documents from the city’s female religious communities and understanding their living conditions in those communities is not an easy task. Many of the references to their existence are indirect and related to a dowry or donation (being mentioned as assets with an assigned value), which could be associated with a will, a partition or a sentence. It is also difficult to ascertain the tasks they performed in the everyday life of cloistered communities, particularly the female ones, subject to the post-Tridentine requirements. Only by presenting a series of cases, other than the ones that are already known, will we be able to suggest considerations on this matter.