TEIAS CRIATIVAS

AURORA emerged from Susana Cereja’s participation in an open call promoted by New Hand Lab as part of the Teias Criativas residency cycle. Selected for the programme, the artist was invited to develop a work bringing ceramics and textiles together through an intensive one-month process: one week in residence in Caldas da Rainha and three weeks in Covilhã. Developed between 6 January and 4 February 2025, the work later became part of the Covilhã Design Triennial 2025 programme. Aurora, the Roman goddess of the morning, evokes sunrise and the beginning of a new day. The title also points towards the aurora borealis and its moving fields of light and colour, an association the artist connected to the historic walls and atmosphere of New Hand Lab. Through the dome of AURORA, the project approaches awakening, renewal and transformation. The work brings the industrial and the intimate together: embroidered curves made through different textile processes frame the feminine as a creative force, while a ceramic path forms a garden-like route that invites the viewer towards and into the work.