Ana Borralho & João Galante must not only be regarded as a duo of artists, but as an actual couple, an essential feature to understand their work.
A duo implies, or at least, admits a conjugation of forces, while in this couple such conjugation turns into one. It is not purposeless that we never see them performing face to face. The face-to-face of Galante-Borralho stands for a couple facing an audience.
Even in "No Body Never Mind 001", the audience surrounded them; Galante faced half of the audience while Borralho faced the other. Just as in family portraits, they do not look at each other - they look at us.
Here lies one of the reasons why the male and the female elements are simultaneously revealed and inverted in their pieces. The performers do not operate on the field of dichotomy, but concentrate on the unified symbol.
This is not a mask game nor a game of knowing whom is who. The work of Galante-Borralho is not two-in-one, but a unity separated in two bodies. The identification of the one implies the iconography comprehended by the other. No obverse without reverse.

Rui Catalão, in LAB11 / REAL's program 2005

Ana Borralho (1972.Lagos, Portugal) and João Galante 4k4 Coolgate (1968.Luanda, Angola) met each other while they studied visual arts at AR.CO (Lisbon) and started collaborating in the late 90s as actors/co-creators with the portuguese theater group Olho in Cacilhas/Almada (near Lisbon).

Their work explores the intersections between performance art, installation, and social practice.

With a focus on the human body, identity, technology and the relationship between the audience and the performer, their projects often involve local communities and challenge traditional boundaries of the theatrical space.

Since 2004, their work has been presented in major festivals and venues across Europe, South America, and Asia.

Borralho and Galante are co-founders of the non-musicians band Jimmie Durham and the casaBranca cultural association. They are also artistic directors/curators of the live art festival Verão Azul (Lagos+Loulé+Faro/Portugal), and co-curators of the extinct electronic music festival Electrolegos (Lagos/Portugal).

They live and work in Lisbon and Lagos (Portugal).

©João Galante

©Ana Borralho & João Galante based on a photo by Bruno Simão

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." Bertolt Brecht