Liliana Mota - Pegador

Liliana Mota, Pegador, aguarela s/papel, 42x29cm, 2024

    Illustration work carried out as part of the Arts, English and Portuguese courses on St. Anthony's Sermon to the Fishes. In this painting, I've illustrated the Pegador fish, which was one of those used metaphorically to condemn man's vices. The Pegador is mentioned in Chapter V, part of the sermon's reprimands. 

        Its behavior, which is disapproved of by Father António Vieira, and consequently used as an example by the latter, is its action of attaching itself to other animals and becoming a parasite. Once attached to their large hosts, these small fish place all their weight and hunger on them. The priest criticizes greedy people who spend their lives chasing important men and taking advantage of their achievements. They adopt an opportunistic lifestyle and lose their identity, as they become ignorant and trapped in the ambitions of those they parasitize.

    To portray a character with these features, I took a slightly comical approach. Using watercolor paint, I chose to paint a shark (host), who is being commanded by the fish Pegador (parasite) to go to work, bring food and give rides, while the scolded fish rests (Despacha-te! Vai trabalhar!! Quando Chegares traz-me comida e dá-me boleia. Fico a relaxar…). With this statement, I wanted to highlight the exploitative personality of the animal, who, while relaxing, waits for the shark to carry out its tasks in order to benefit himself. I placed the characters in a domestic setting to accentuate the situation of rest and relaxation of the Catcher, and at the same time, the annoyance of the bigger fish, who in his own home, has to follow the abuser's instructions. I chose to contrast the cold colors of the house with the warm colors of the elements used by the same animal, to reinforce the idea of the different lifestyles of the two individuals.
    This work on the allegory was developed over three weeks and I believe I managed to portray the animal's reprehensible character in an understandable way.

Liliana Mota, 11.ºE