Windows peer out curiously and let us peek inside.

Windows are both inside and outside.

Windows mark the boundary between public and private.

What has this window seen?

What stories has she experienced?

And what is she trying to tell us?

Memories from a window – Memórias de uma Janela – which ages, recalls and glimpses is an urban poetry installation held in Pátio Dom Fradique, at the rear of a palace connected to São Jorge Castle in Lisbon, during the Paratíssima 2016 festival.

The installation transformed mirrors into orange plastic frames — a common sight in Brazil — into windows that invite observation and reflection. Each mirror was adorned with small illustrations inspired by old photographs of the workers’ village that once stood there.

In this project, the mirror becomes the window itself: a symbolic boundary between the public and the private, between what has been experienced and what is revealed to the eye. The project offered a sensory experience of urban poetry, where history, memory and artistic intervention converge, allowing each visitor to see and be seen.

Memories of a Window is an initiative by Desejos Urbanos held in 2016 in Lisbon.