December 7 • 7 PM
November Gallery • Kursulina 22, Belgrade
In The Narcissism of Small Differences, Portuguese artist Pauliana Valente Pimentel turns her attentive, empathetic gaze toward the youth of São Miguel Island in the Azores, a place where tradition, isolation, and contemporary global influences intertwine in unexpected ways.
Pimentel does not document the island in a classical, descriptive manner, nor does she offer ethnographic explanations. Her photographs reveal, above all, inner landscapes—psychological nuances and emotional moments, gestures of insecurity and pride, the tension between the desire to belong and the urge to break free, moments of solitude in which a sense of self quietly takes shape. The young people she photographs grow up in a society shaped by strong traditions, rigid hierarchies, and deep-rooted belonging, yet they are simultaneously part of a global generation formed by digital culture and the need to be seen.
Through portraits of youths from different social backgrounds—from fishing villages to affluent families—the artist constructs a multifaceted emotional landscape. All photographs are printed in the same size, mixed together and stripped of hierarchy: young people from different worlds are placed on equal footing, forming a shared visual narrative where their fears, desires, energy, and introspection carry equal weight.
The exhibition title refers to Freud’s idea of the “narcissism of small differences,” the phenomenon in which even the slightest distinctions can provoke feelings of distance or hostility between groups. Pauliana Valente Pimentel, however, offers an entirely different interpretation: she sees difference as a space for understanding, a possibility for closeness, a place where empathy can begin.
About the Artist
Pauliana Valente Pimentel (1975, Portugal) is one of Portugal’s most prominent contemporary photographers. Since 1999, she has exhibited widely across Europe—in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, and the United Kingdom—as well as internationally in the United States, China, Turkey, and Morocco.
She attended the photography program of the Gulbenkian Programme for Creativity and Artistic Creation (2005) and was a member of the Kameraphoto collective from 2006 to 2014. She teaches authorial photography at ETIC and the World Academy in Lisbon. Pimentel is currently pursuing a PhD in Contemporary Art at the University of Coimbra, where she is part of the CEIS20 research centre. She is the recipient of the Portuguese Society of Authors Visual Arts Award (2015) and a nominee for the NOVO BANCO Photo Award (2016).
Her work is included in important private and institutional collections, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CAM), Partex, EDP Foundation (MAAT), Novo Banco, and the Portuguese State Collection.
