Paulo Pascoal is a multidisciplinary artist with a life story worthy of a movie. He has been the face of advertising campaigns in New York, written for famous singers, been a pop music star in Angola, and has an extensive resume in theater, cinema, and television. Paulo has just released the autobiographical work “X 4 PRXTX”, an intimate diary he wrote when he arrived in New York at 18, chronicling his first year in the whirlwind of the American metropolis. The book’s encoded title refers to a particular place that Paulo now claims as his own. “It’s the black room, the fourth place. It’s a satire, a social positioning of a fourth place of oppression, and I wanted to reclaim belonging in that fourth place—the first of the last.” Hear him in this first part of the conversation with Bernardo Mendonça.
Paulo Pascoal’s life story could be a film—or a globally successful series—filled with glories, challenges, and shadows. It has already become a book, as he has just published the autobiographical “X 4 PRXTX” through Sistema Solar. The book features the diary he wrote at 18 when he moved to New York with his mother and stepfather.
In his book, Paulo generously and candidly recounts his experiences during that dizzying year in the city that never sleeps, where dreams are born and die.
It was a year of self-discovery: exploring his body, his sexuality, the whirlwind of the metropolis, and the desires of a teenager beginning to make his first steps in fashion and music in the “Big Apple” after a phase of repression and seclusion at a boarding school run by priests in Spain.
But this is just a teaser of Paulo’s life, filled with incredible chapters. For instance, later on, he became a pop music star in Angola. His career was abruptly interrupted by an onstage incident and, more significantly, by the prejudice against queer artists. Paulo recounts this episode and its impact in this first part of the conversation. But more on that later.
Paulo describes himself as a dreamer—someone who dreams a lot and believes in the need to reimagine ourselves beyond our limitations. Sometimes, he says, fiction is necessary to ease the frictions of life.
What else? Paulo has been using the same perfume for 25 years, “The Dreamer” by Versace. He is a creature of routine and a morning person. He always rises with the sun, sleeps with the window open, meditates, stretches, and heads out to have coffee in a garden, rain or shine.
He goes to the gym daily to ensure his longevity. He also changes wigs to regain anonymity. “These days, I can’t exist without a wig. I have many wigs, more than I should.”
His extensive career as a multidisciplinary artist spans music, theater, cinema, and television. On television, he has been part of the cast of series like “Morangos com Açúcar” (2004), “Voo Direto” (2010), “Depois do Adeus” (2012), “Coração d’Ouro” (2016), “Lua de Mel” (2022), and “Lusitânia” (2023), among others.
In cinema, he starred in films such as “Corpo Fechado” by Carlos Motta, “Beco do Imaginário” by Romano Cassellis, “A Viagem do Rei” by João Pedro Moreira, “Pele Escura” by Graça Castanheira, “Fado Menor” by Salvador Gutiérrez, and more. In theater, he has worked on productions by Cão Solteiro, Nova Companhia, Rabbit Hole, and regularly with Teatro Praga.
He is currently a co-host on the weekly show Avenida Marginal on RDP África, part of the curatorial team for the upcoming Julianknxx exhibition at CAM (Modern Art Center) of the Gulbenkian Foundation, set to open in February 2025. This very week, on November 23 and 24, he will be part of the performance “We Should Be Dreaming” with Sonya Lindfors and Maryan Abdulkarim at the Alkantara Festival.
SIC, 22/11/2024
