Emerging from Bisco Smith’s ongoing exploration of language, movement, and the human condition, Human Kindreflects on the tensions that define contemporary existence. Built around the dual meaning of its title, the work considers both what it means to be human and the direction humanity is taking, inviting reflection on the choices, contradictions, and struggles that shape our collective future.

Characteristic of Smith’s practice, gestural abstraction, graffiti, and typography converge into compositions that capture rhythm as much as meaning. Layers of energetic marks and recurring words accumulate across the surface, echoing the spontaneity of street writing while creating a visual language that is both expressive and contemplative. Balancing urgency with introspection, Human Kind transforms the written word into an open reflection on identity, resilience, and our shared responsibility in shaping the world we inhabit.

“Ethereal” embodies the raw energy of artistic intervention, combining multiple techniques to create a richly textured, one-of-a-kind piece. The interplay of screen printing and giclée techniques provides a dynamic contrast between precision and spontaneity, while the addition of quick-ink and bleach introduces unpredictable organic patterns. Each piece is further hand-finished by Vhils and JR, ensuring a unique final touch that reflects the transformative nature of their collaboration. The larger format enhances the immersive experience, making this edition a profound statement on time, memory, and resilience.

“Leap” captures the essence of movement, ambition, and hope. This high-quality giclée print combines JR’s signature photographic language with Vhils’ unique approach to materiality and texture. The image—a child reaching beyond his immediate reality—is elevated by Vhils’ sculptural sensibility, especially evident in the AP & RN versions, where paste-up elements create a layered, tactile depth. Printed on richly textured paper, this edition reflects the artists’ shared vision of resilience and transcendence, offering a striking testament to the power of collaboration and the enduring strength of human dreams.

Developed within the context of The Studio residency project at Underdogs Gallery, Bring staring at a wall back was hand-finished by Wasted Rita during her residency.

During her time in the gallery, the artist approached the space as an open and continuously evolving environment, where drawings, phrases, interruptions, and observations gradually accumulated in real time. Extending this process into the edition itself, Wasted Rita introduced hand-applied airbrush interventions directly onto the risograph prints, adding graphic elements that shift across the edition, with certain motifs reappearing intermittently from print to print.

Created alongside a new body of work developed inside the gallery, the edition reflects the sharp humour, immediacy, and critical visual language that define the artist’s practice, translating everyday anxieties, contradictions, and fragments of contemporary life into art.

Underdogs celebrates the 25th of April with the launch of a special series of editions by seven Portuguese artists who, although they did not experience the revolution firsthand, grew up with its legacy deeply embedded in the fabric of society. This year marks 51 years since the Carnation Revolution — a historical moment that ended decades of dictatorship and restored democracy in Portugal. The works emerged from an invitation by Underdogs to engage in a dialogue with iconic photographs by Alfredo Cunha — one of Portugal’s most important photojournalists. With a sharp and sensitive eye, Cunha captured defining moments of April 25, 1974, immortalising expressions of freedom, confrontation, silence, and hope.

Each artist was invited to choose, reflect on, and respond to one of these images, inviting viewers to step into a portal through time and offering a new, personal reading of the past. Originally presented in the exhibition Portais do Tempo, held at the former Lisnave shipyards in Almada in 2023, these powerful works are now being relaunched as limited editions — produced in the same format and with identical margins. Each edition will be sold at the same price, making them accessible to a wider audience and reaffirming the importance of keeping alive the reflection on what freedom means, and what it continues to mean, today.

Ana Malta creates a powerful pictorial reinterpretation of one of Alfredo Cunha’s most iconic photographs: the moment when Salgueiro Maia addresses the photographer, urging him to choose a side. In her painting, Malta carefully selects and paints elements from the original scene — the police car, the military, Terreiro do Paço — while introducing new figures: her “children of April 25th,” the generation born into freedom. Malta paints the scene from the opposite point of view to that of the original photograph, suggesting a shift in perspective — both literal and symbolic.