Paula Rego's map of memory: national and sexual politics

The artist Paula Rego was born in Portugal but has lived in Britain since 1951. In this book, Maria Manuel Lisboa explores the background behind Rego's decision to leave the land of her birth and, in doing so, provides insights into Rego's persistent portrayal of uneasy and predatory relations between men and women. Looking back over the national, religious and sexual politics of Portugal during Rego's childhood under the shadow of the Salazar dictatorship and subsequently, Lisboa locates the origins of the artist's preoccupation with power and powerlessness, violence and abuse within the political and ideological status quo of Portugal, past and present. Lisboa's clear and thoughtful analysis offers an ambitious contribution to the study of patriarchy and its expression in the work of this artist.