“Este silêncio que me inebria, esta visão que me apazigua”: Francisco Domingues exhibits at CIÊNCIAS

Libraries, books and their readers are the protagonists of the exhibition that Francisco Domingues, a former student of Ciências, will present at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências). From 1 October, in the Ciências Gallery, the exhibition showcases simple‑line drawings, born from Francisco Domingues’ long‑standing relationship with books and his very particular connection to libraries.

“I have a real fondness for libraries and books,” he admits. The sentence sums up a passion that has accompanied him for many years and that gained a new dimension after his retirement, when he began to visit libraries from different municipal networks more regularly. The former professor holds library cards for Lisbon, Amadora, Loures and Oeiras and, around four or five years ago, also renewed his connection to the Ciências library. He began by coming in as a visitor but, more recently, started attending individual course units out of personal interest and, therefore, is now also a student.

His connection with Ciências, in fact, goes back a long way. After graduating in Engineering at the Military Academy, Francisco Domingues returned to the Faculty to study Geographical Engineering. “Ciências is my second school,” he says. It is also to this space that he now returns, through drawing.

The drawings began long before this exhibition. Still at secondary school, Francisco enjoyed drawing cowboys and Native Americans. Later, as an adult, he returned to the habit, at first spontaneously and almost therapeutically. “It’s a therapy. It’s a catharsis,” he says. During a period in which he was living away from home, he began to draw more frequently and, after retiring, drawing came to occupy an even greater place in his daily life.

Among the many themes he had been recording, books began to take centre stage. And it was when he realised that he already had a series of drawings dedicated to books, libraries and readers that the idea of bringing them together in an exhibition emerged.

The suggestion came from two friends, Cristina Domingues and Cristina Manessiez, from the Ciências libraries, who encouraged him to exhibit. His initial reaction was one of surprise. The idea, however, took shape and eventually gave rise to the exhibition now arriving at the Faculty. The universe of the exhibition also stems from the author’s personal experience as a reader. Francisco Domingues reads fiction and non‑fiction, history and historical novels, Portuguese and international authors. Among the names he has been reading are Cláudia Chéu and Mário Dionísio. And there are books and authors that leave particular marks: he keeps, for instance, a letter written to him by António Lobo Antunes.

 Although he considers himself a slow reader, his relationship with books is intense. “There are books that are read quickly and others that force you to go back and reread a page in order to fully understand what is being said,” he notes.

It is precisely this slow, lingering relationship with reading that also seems to run through the drawings. In libraries, Francisco finds silence and tranquillity, but also a space for introspection: “It is a rediscovery, a meeting with myself,” he says. The inspiration for some of the works arises directly from these moments. A photograph he took in a library, while he was drawing, eventually gave rise to one of the drawings.

There is, however, no strict routine to his visits to libraries. He may go fifteen days without stepping inside one and, when he returns, spend several hours there. What he seeks is precisely that possibility of stopping: “That tranquillity and all those books there at my disposal” are part of what draws him in.

The exhibition does not bring together drawings alone. Some display cases will also present texts written by Francisco Domingues, many of them produced precisely during his time spent in libraries. They are texts born of thoughts, observations and more existential questions, which the author has been recording in notebooks, loose sheets or on his mobile phone.

There is, in fact, a project that remains open: to turn this collection of texts into a book, a self‑published edition accompanied by his drawings.

As for the exhibition, this will not be his first. In 2020, he presented a show at Fábrica Braço de Prata, in Lisbon, where he brought together works on various themes. This time, the universe is more specific: books, libraries and readers. Beyond exhibition rooms, the work also continues in the digital sphere. Francisco Domingues maintains an Instagram page, @dominguesfrancisco_, where he publishes his drawings and which already features more than 600 posts.

Now, his return to Ciências takes place through an exhibition that brings together two dimensions that form part of his story: the Faculty where he studied and later returned to study, and the world of libraries, where he found, after retiring, a space to read, draw, write and simply be.

The title of the exhibition reflects this relationship: “Este silêncio que me inebria, esta visão que me apazigua” (“This silence that intoxicates me, this vision that soothes me”).