NADA New York 2022

In 2021 Trabulo spent time in the vaults of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (National Museum of Ancient Art) located in Lisbon, PT. Founded in 1884 to exhibit the collection of the Portuguese Royal Family, the encyclopedic museum is one of the largest in the country, with a nearly 40,000 objects in its permanent collection. In the 1960’s, the museum underwent significant expansion under the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar and his “Estado Novo” regime. As part of the expansion, new vaults were constructed to house the growing collection. At the same time, the museum became increasingly nationalistic and focused on presentinga narrative of Portugal as a colonial and imperial power that needed to be restored to its former glory.

During her time at the museum, Trabulo developed a new body of work titled “Collecting Dust.” Comprised of both photographic, and sculptural works, the pieces within the series combine physical debris Trabulo has collected from the archives and merges it with historical elements from the museum.

The sculptural works were developed from graphic shapes found in the first catalogue the museum produced in 1882, two years before the building would officially open. Trabulo selected the stylized framing devices as a way to highlight the intentional and inherently subjective act that goes into any form of the selection and presentation of objects.