To Yourself (A Ti Mesmo) is a video artwork that explores self-consumption in the context of technology, solitude, and the refusal of spectacle. The piece captures a cigarette burning on the pavement—consuming itself without intervention, witness, or performance. This image becomes a metaphor for the act of creating for oneself alone, without audience or external validation.
In a world that privileges visibility and the consumption of what is external, To Yourself reclaims introspection as an act of quiet defiance. It challenges the notion—learned in performance school—that art only exists in the presence of an audience. Here, the gesture is deliberately turned inward.
Exhibited at Reitoria (Porto, 2019), Ugly Duck Gallery (London, 2020), and FBAUP Museum (Porto, 2021).
Isadora Petrauskas 