Project
DNA
Azulejos reordered. Threads redefined. A biological code written in ceramic.
What if identity could be read like a tile — each fragment holding a code, each thread a genealogy?
We were never meant to reject what is different. We were meant to complete one another. But difference became separation. So we return to the origin. To DNA the code that connects us all. DNA holds diversity within one structure. Difference is not disorder. It is design.
At the heart of this project are azulejos. Not just tiles, but carriers of memory holding the fingerprints of cultures, migrations, and generations. Across centuries, different communities left their traces on this land. Portugal becomes a living DNA bank a cultural map encoded over time.
In this project, broken azulejo fragments are sourced from restoration sites, museum collections, conservation and restoration studios, research archives. Through stitching, they are brought together into a growing DNA structure. What was broken reconnects. What was missing finds its place. What was different becomes essential. This is not just repair. This is recoding. You are part of it.
"We return to DNA,
where difference is not disorder,
but the hidden harmony of the design.
Through stitching, participation, and care,
fragments reconnect, collective memory is rewoven,
and healing begins for a better future."
— Serra Behar