Nossa Estrela

DOCUMENT is pleased to present Nossa Estrela, a solo exhibition of new work by John Opera. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at DOCUMENT Lisbon and fifth with the gallery. The exhibition brings together selections from Opera’s Sun/Sky series (2014–2026), including cyanotypes first shown in the recent group exhibition Palomar (Parts 1 and 2) at the Renaissance Society in Chicago, alongside new gum bichromate works developed through printing experiments conducted over the past five years. Working with early photographic processes, Opera puts historical techniques in dialogue with contemporary questions of perception and materiality. The images are made using a handmade cardboard pinhole lens and captured with a digital camera, treating the sun as both subject and conceptual catalyst. Together, the works extend Opera’s long-term interest in the material possibilities of the photographic image, explored through surface, color, and time scales that reach beyond human experience.