Elizabeth Xi Bauer presents Hand in Hand, an exhibition of new work by Lidia Lisbôa and Thiago Barbalho. Bringing together two practices grounded in handmade processes, this exhibition establishes a dialogue centred on material engagement and sustained making. Rather than treating the handmade as a stylistic category, Hand in Hand approaches it as a working method shaped by repetition and close attention, one that quietly reconsiders established values through the transformative work of the hands.
Set against a broader context of increasing automation and digital saturation, the exhibition foregrounds artisanal techniques as considered and relevant forms of production. Slowness is presented not as nostalgia, but as a deliberate mode of creation, one that privileges continuity and depth of artistic inquiry. The title Hand in Hand reflects both the material focus of the works on view and the collaborative relationship between the two artists. The exchange between Barbalho and Lisbôa first took shape when Barbalho recognised shared affinities across working techniques, artistic concerns, and personal trajectories shaped by experiences of migration and the constraints of the class system, where access to creativity is often unevenly distributed.
Lidia Lisbôa’s work spans ceramics, textiles, sculpture, crochet, drawing, and performance. Anchored in her daily rhythm in the studio, Lisbôa’s approach centres on attentive focus, where artistic activity becomes a form of research. For Hand in Hand, Lisbôa presents a new body of work comprising ceramics, textiles, and works on paper, developed largely during her residency at Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s Deptford studio in the months leading up to the exhibition. Rooted in craft traditions and personal histories, the works treat tactile elements as carriers of memory and touch, with many textiles repurposed. Lisbôa explores themes of the body and lived experience, allowing meaning to emerge gradually.
Working in coloured pencils, graphite, spray, oil, oil pastel, and marker on paper, Thiago Barbalho’s compositions propose intricate universes of form, where references and colours intertwine to create psychedelic narratives that challenge the relationship between figure and background. The artist’s visual research seeks to understand drawing as the sign of a presence; the relationship between the mind and the body; and between consciousness and reality.
For Hand in Hand, Barbalho has created new large‑scale drawings alongside a sculptural series depicting hands holding one another. Built through patience and repetition, the works construct imagined, tactile worlds rendered in a luminous palette. Presented at an expanded scale, the drawings evoke the presence of monumental hands, suggesting a spiritual force of creation. Barbalho’s new sculptural works give literal form to the exhibition’s central metaphor, extending the artist’s longstanding interest in interdependence and the emotional charge of gestures.
Barbalho’s meticulously rendered dune drawings in graphite and coloured pencil echo the forms of Lisbôa’s knotted fabric works from her Teta series and her ceramic termite mounds from the Cupinzeiros series (1996–2024). Each belongs to an ongoing body of work shaped through actions: knotting, carving, and drawing, through which familiar structures are continually reworked.
Though distinct in medium and presentation, Lisbôa and Barbalho are woven together by a shared commitment to time-based work and physical engagement. Rather than responding directly to one another, their practices unfold through parallel methods and conceptual frameworks, allowing connections to surface gradually. Hand in Hand positions artistic activity as a shared act, foregrounding mutual influence and enduring labour, and asserting attention and focus as rare and vital resources in contemporary society.
This exhibition is curated by Maria do Carmo M. P. de Pontes.
Notes to Editors
Thiago Barbalho (born 1984, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.
Thiago Barbalho holds a BA in Philosophy and an MA in the History of Metaphysics from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, where he also completed a degree in Law in 2010. Alongside his visual art practice, Barbalho is an accomplished writer who has published short stories, novels, and poetry, and is the founder of the independent press Edições Vira-lata.
Barbalho’s work has been included in several major publications, including Vitamin D3: Today’s Best in Contemporary Drawing, published by Phaidon in 2021. The artist also features in Dreams in the Sun: Mirages of Art in Latin America, 2024, a landmark survey publication that brings together approximately 140 artists and charts Latin American artistic production from 1900 to the present.
In 2025, Barbalho was invited to participate in the Further On Air International Residency. Located in Long Island, the residency offers artists an opportunity to explore new creative processes while engaging with nature; providing contemporary artists with the space for reflection and the development of new works. Prior to this, Barbalho completed a residency at Pivô Arte e Pesquisa, São Paulo, Brazil. In 2019 Barbalho was nominated for the prestigious PIPA Prize, which celebrates prominent Brazilian visual artists.
Barbalho’s works have been exhibited internationally. In 2026, he presented the duo show organic fictions alongside Antonio Henrique Amaral at Nara Roesler, New York City, USA. In conjuncture with organic fictions, Barbalho displayed a solo presentation at WINDOW, New York City – a space conceived by Anton Kern Gallery, dedicated to focused, site-responsive artworks. Over the past two years, Nara Roesler have hosted three solo exhibitions by Barbalho: Fominha, 2025, Nara Roesler, São Paulo; Secrets and spells, 2024, Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil; and Cacimba Nova, Casa de Cultura do Jardim do Seridó, Jardim do Seridó, Brazil. A selection of further significant institutions that have exhibited Barbalho include Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo; Pivô, São Paulo; Gasworks, London; and Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, Portugal.
Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s third collaboration with Barbalho took place in 2025 with the solo exhibition Chants. Chants explored the intersections of visual language and ancestral technology through a series of paintings, drawings, and site-specific installation. At the beginning of 2025, Elizabeth Xi Bauer celebrated the opening of a second London location with its Inaugural Exhibition, featuring works by artists integral to the gallery’s identity, including two drawings by Barbalho. Prior to this, Elizabeth Xi Bauer presented Phantom Dance, 2023, exhibiting Barbalho alongside Theodore Ereira-Guyer. Barbalho is co-represented by Elizabeth Xi Bauer and Nara Roesler.
Barbalho’s works are in the collections of Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo; and Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil.
Lidia Lisbôa (born 1970, Terra Roxa, Brazil). Lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil
Lidia Lisbôa studied metal engraving at the Museu Lasar Segall in São Paulo in 1993. She also received formal training in contemporary sculpture at the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture (MuBE), ceramics at the São Paulo School of Arts and Crafts, and art history at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP).
Lisbôa’s latest solo exhibition, Teta (2024) was held at the renowned Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro. Combining textiles, sculpture, and installation, Teta was part of the ‘Women at MAR’ programme that highlighted artists such as Tarsila do Amaral, Tomie Ohtake, and Louise Bourgeois. Other solo exhibitions include “O Teatro”, 2024, Millan, São Paulo; Ofício: Fio: Lidia Lisbôa: Mulher Esqueleto, 2023, Sesc Pompéia, São Paulo; Acordelados, 2023, Millan, São Paulo; and Memórias do afeto, 2021, Centro Cultural Santo Amaro, São Paulo.
In 2025, Lisbôa participated in the 36th Bienal de São Paulo Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice. In homage to breastfeeding mothers, the artist exhibited Tetas que deram de mamar ao mundo (Breasts That Nursed the World), 2015-2025, comprising a series of large-scale, breast-like crochet forms that were draped from the ceiling. The previous year, Lisbôa was one of the few artists selected to display work in Atlântico Vermelho (Red Atlantic) at the United Nations headquarters in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
Lisbôa has exhibited in several highly regarded galleries and institutions throughout Brazil, namely: Museu de Arte de São Paulo, MASP, São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM São Paulo), São Paulo; Itaú Cultural, São Paulo; Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo; Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo; Serviço Social do Comércio (SESC), São Paulo; Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia (MuBE), São Paulo; Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo; SP–Arte, São Paulo; Baró Galeria, São Paulo; Mercosur Biennial, Porto Alegre; and the National Museum of the Republic, Brasília.
Lisbôa’s work features in institutional collections including Institute for Studies on Latin American Art, USA; El Museo Del Barrio, USA; Princeton University Art Museum, USA; Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Sesc São Paulo, Brazil; and Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil.
Hand in Hand will run from 26th June – 9th August 2026, at Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s Exmouth Market location, open Wednesday through to Sunday, 12 – 6 pm or by appointment. A Private View will be held on 25th June 2026, 6 – 8 pm.
Gallery locations:
20-22 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE
Fuel Tank, 8-12 Creekside, London, SE8 3DX
For further information, press inquiries, or to schedule a visit, contact Paige Ashley at paige@lizxib.com
A Dropbox with additional press material can be found here:
Press contact: Paige Ashley paige@lizxib.com
Image credit: Thiago Barbalho, Compulsive Chewing, 2020-2023. Oil, acrylic, coloured pencils, ballpoint pen, permanent marker and pencil on paper, 96 x 132.8 cm. Photograph: Richard Ivey. Courtesy of the Artist and Elizabeth Xi Bauer, London.
