The exhibition titled ' Presençes Reais' (Real Presences) a sculptural insallation 'Receive I' and 'Receive II', employs local materials of corrugated steel and plastic, rope with sacks containing local sand and was the continuation of an ongoing dialogue with work titled 'Apprehension', commissioned by Avora Cooperativea, Oporto, Portugal.

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'Apprehension'  takes the form of a drawbridge, the structure relates to concerns with boundary and the conflict arising from this; inclusion, exclusion, imprisonment or freedom, etc. It also questions the perception of, and the reality of each when viewed in its antithesis. The ambiguity maintained between acceptance and rejection in the partly opened drawbridge is the visual evocation of `listening to a call'. Material tautness provides the image of opposing action spiritually and emotionally. `Receive' is the physical image of inner apprehension and indicates the mystery of something beyond our understanding.  

Whilst in architecture the wall defines interior and exterior in the human realm it is the skin. The architecture reflects metaphorically the broader socially evident fears and concerns. "The skin is the line of demarcation, a periphery, the form, the shape, the first clue to identifying in a society". From Intercourse by Andrea Dworkin. If, once, skin and cloth were metaphors for identity and Divinity (eg.in the painting of religious scenes by Leonardo) then, now, contemporary architecture is an image of humanity alienated from God. This condition of alienation reminded me of the account of The Tower of Bable in which we see "man, divided, longing for escape from the world which is all he has, tries literally to build his way out of this condition". Today we have accelerated building up and destruction in our cities, the endemic condition of contemporary life.

The opening (or closing) Apprehension is a metaphor for acquiescence. As the architect, Tadao Ando states "I believe that tension should be as present in acceptance as in rejection, In architecture, this tension signifies an intense confrontation between the inside and the outside". `Receive' uses architectural references to describe humanity's desire to transcend boundary; transcending self thus escaping isolation and separation.

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