Like me, Adriana Varejão was born under the sign of Scorpio. It is compelling to observe her work through that lens, and one of the reasons, I believe, why I have always felt such an attraction to her work.

Death, sex, inheritance and power are central issues both in that zodiac sign and in the artist herself. And, I think, in particular, in the notion of pain as a vehicle for potency and purification, a source of fascination and truth.

‘Wall with incisions a la Fontana (triptych)’, from 2002, is a work that tells the truth, and even if that truth is violent, painful and uncomfortable, it is always pressing – and precious.

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The original work by Lucio Fontana reveals cuts that point to the empty space behind the canvas. In this re-reading, however, the cuts bleed – after all, how effective is a cut without blood? The scalpel is a weapon that demands intention and skill, and therein lies its true power: it knows where to go and where not to go, where to wound and where not to wound.

The sexual and symbolic component of a split is also more explicit in Varejão than in Fontana. Sex, when it is good at least, is never sterile; it is dirty, and without the exchange of fluids there is no life. We need to replace fear with the beauty of showing things as they really are.

Rupture is also narrative, and through that rupture other narratives are created – it is, therefore, fertile. External forces sometimes force us to rewrite a story that is dear to us, or a tradition we thought unsullied. No one wants to expose their innards to the world. No person, no country.