Ask me to stay, a little longer (2026) — MFA Exhibition

MFA Show 2 - School of the Art Institute of Chicago
May, 2026

Ask me to stay, a little longer

Ask me to stay, a little longer is an installation composed of photographs, stock images, LED panels, video, sound, sculptures, found objects, poetry, and fragments of accumulated media. Rearview mirrors, styrofoam cups, delivery bags, modified exit signs, YouTube fireplace videos, model airplanes, surveillance cameras, yellowed wallpaper, messages, plywood, luggage, and photographs of loved ones taken on screens coexist as emotional artifacts inside the space. The installation at once resembles an airport terminal, a waiting room, an immigration office. A temporary home: a room assembled from longing, transit, and mediation.

As a child, I used to constantly dream about flying. I thought it would be freeing. Since then I have flown a lot, swam a lot, driven a lot, acquired a lot, lost a lot. I used to dream about America, I suppose I still do. I’ve been here for a while now, all in all, but it never quite clicks. Not that Brazil clicks any better. Ask me to stay, a little longer exists within that unresolved space. More than anything, it is a room of rooms that I have come to love as much as any home or lover.

Ask me to stay, a little longer

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Parasocial, unrequited love)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Window Seat)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Make Yourself at Home)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Waiting Room)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Air traffic control tower)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Wallpaper)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (I)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Vessel)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Dancing around raindrops)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Sign of life)

Ask me to stay, a little longer (Hummingbird heartbeat)

Leonardo Gabriel do Amaral Artist/Writer/Educator

Bio/StatementCVContactInstagramSubstackare.na

Contact

Email: lgamaral99@gmail.comPhone Number: 6073791809 Don’t be shy :)

©LeoMaybeLeo

Leonardo Gabriel do Amaral
Artist/Writer/Educator

Bio/Statement
CV
Contact
Instagram
Substack
are.na

Email: lgamaral99@gmail.com
Phone Number: 6073791809

Don’t be shy :)