This workshop explores natural materials as carriers of symbolic, cultural, and ancestral meaning. Elements such as plants, earth, water, wax, and stone are approached not as passive resources, but as matter embedded in systems of knowledge, belief, and transformation.

Rather than focusing on function or appearance, the session shifts attention towards what materials carry — meanings shaped by cultural contexts, historical transformations, and ancestral narratives that persist beyond dominant Christian and Eurocentric frameworks.

Drawing from artistic practice and spiritual traditions, the workshop introduces a way of thinking that moves between materiality and representation. Materials are read, combined, and activated as part of a shared symbolic vocabulary. Artistic practice is approached as a process of symbolic construction, where meaning emerges through the relationship between intention, material, and composition, as in ritual practices.

Through guided discussion and hands-on experimentation, participants will collectively build this glossary and use it to compose small-scale material arrangements. These compositions emerge from the combination of elements, associations, and intentions, operating as symbolic statements and transformation tools.

Participants must be 18+. No prior knowledge required. Participants are invited to bring personal objects or materials to contribute to the collective exploration.

Julee (Juliana Lee Pinto, 1994) is a Brazilian visual artist based in Lisbon. Her practice investigates the transfiguration of matter, working with natural, domestic, and found materials as symbolic and cultural agents. She holds a BA in Multimedia Art, University of Lisbon with further training at Ar.Co (Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual).