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 Gê Orthof and Raphael Fonseca’s remarkable exhibition Many-Splendoured Thing is unique for The Portico Library. At a time when Brazil’s political and social situation is dominating the news, Prêmio Marcantonio Vilaça Award winners Gê and Raphael have travelled from Rio and Brasília to undertake a residency here at the library, interrogating the books and history of our spectacular collection, and creating a playful, poetic response that brings the literature to life.

Enchanted by books and their power to unlock new worlds of potential, Gê has built a space for visions to take form and journeys to begin. His miniature dioramas invite us to join and get to know them, feeling ourselves fellow characters in these strange, intriguing stories, all bound together between the pages of his ‘street library’. With humble materials and dreams of magic, Gê has temporarily transformed the entire gallery space into one flowing, immersive installation, whose cardboard walls remind us of both the shelters of rough-sleepers and refugees, and the materials from which our books are made. Finding ourselves standing down among the pages, we begin to imagine the scenarios and dialogues occurring, and our own evolving roles.