Much of the artist’s work is in notebooks, most of which cannot be exhibited, the rest will be part of the exhibition along with drawings, illustrations, samples of the process behind the animation and the animations themselves. Ostraliana proposed to draw as if she were playing an instrument. She started drawing daily, inspired by the way musicians practice. When she learned that she no longer wanted to work as an architect, she was lost. The dedication of the musicians and their persistence to survive in the adverse conditions of culture in Portugal, ended up giving her strength. She didn’t know how to make a living, but she started drawing with a lot of discipline. Her first fanzine was Sentido de Orientaçao (2016), which focuses on walking lost and defends wandering as a method of orientation. Today, drawing is a working tool for her, but a lot of strength is needed yet, we need to go on breaking rocks! It is this strength that NOT ONLY THE MUSCLE IS STRENGTH honors.

Ostraliana (Marta Sales)

Lisbon, 1980

She is a founding partner of Associação Oficina Gal’déria. She has a degree in Architecture and studied illustration and comics at Ar.co and Illustration and Digital Animation at ESAD. She started working as an architect, later she taught drawing and illustration. She is currently an illustrator, animator and comic book author, having published with the editors Dor de Cotovelo, Sapata Press and A tua Mãe*. In her spare time, she dedicates herself to music and to applying for financial support for the production of her animated short film “Sentido de Orientação”. She participated in numerous collective exhibitions, this is her first solo.