Helena Almeida, Voar (To Fly), 2001

Portuguese artist Helena Almeida described her output, which ranged from photography and performance to drawing and video art, as being an extension of her physical self: “My work is my body, my body is my work.” And most of her work does indeed centre around some version of self-portraiture, although the artist’s face is usually obscured, inviting the viewer to contemplate her form and positioning rather than her persona. This image, from her 2001 series Voar (To Fly)

, finds Almeida playfully emulating a bird or plane, held aloft by a stool—a Friday feeling if ever we saw one.