After eight days of installing, the exhibition is finally ready to be revealed to the public! Manchester Art Gallery was packed and the level of excitement made for a truly wonderful experience.

During the opening there were speeches by Richard Lease, Leader of the Council, Maria Balshaw, Director of Manchester City Galleries and Whitworth Art Gallery and Joana Vasconcelos. The exhibition was formally opened by the Portuguese Ambassador, João Vallera, who spoke about how Joana and her work can be seen as a fantastic ambassador for Portugal throughout the world. Joana talked about how the exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery was important to her career as it combined exhibition spaces, a loft public space for her new commission, outdoor sites and the possibilities for a dialogue with the fine and decorative arts collections.

Wandering the galleries after the speeches and seeing all the works as a visitor to the gallery and not from the viewpoint of installation was very special, and I hope other visitors to the gallery are as impressed and intrigued by Joana Vasconcelos’s work as I was.