Eyes that seek the Unseen
A long street was finally embelished wit a variety of graffiti and mural paintings along its decaying walls. I went there yesterday and took some photos.
The artists were invited by the City Council and they were given total freedom to paint whatever they wanted. This a good way to change an uninteresting (even depressive) street in a sort of public art gallery.
This week-end a Graffiti contest took place near where I live. A long street with empty decaying walls was invaded by many street artist. I was there at the beginning, last Saturday
I will return there next week to photograph the finished work (Part 2)
From the text published in the website of Almada City Council
https://www.cm-almada.pt/museus/filhos-do-meio-hip-hop-a-margem
«Filhos do Meio – Hip Hop à Margem» is the new temporary exhibition at the Almada Museum – Casa da Cidade, scheduled to open on October 26th at 3:00 pm, and which will occupy the two floors of the temporary exhibition wing of Casa da Cidade until the end of March 2025.
The exhibition is part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April 1974 and also marks the 30th anniversary of the RAPublica collection, the first compilation of Portuguese rap, released in 1994. It aims to provide an interpretation of the identity of Almada, integrating the cultural movements fostered by the 1974 Revolution, stimulated by the arrival of new populations and their reproduction in the municipality of Almada, highlighting the contribution of the hip hop culture that was founded there and giving expression to geographical and cultural areas of the municipality that are less known to the general public. The guiding theme focuses on the post-25th of April because it is in these youthful dynamics fostered by the younger generations that the creative processes have been constructed over these 50 years, in a permanent exchange with similar territorial realities in spaces that cross Almada and the Costa da Caparica with the municipalities of the Setúbal peninsula and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
The exhibition includes sections dedicated to the history of hip hop in Portugal and Almada, with links to fashion, breakdancing and pirate radio stations; highlighting expressions such as graffiti and rap in Portuguese, associating them with television media coverage and ending with the current creative situation, framed in an independent record market, streaming and social networks. This exhibition of colour, light and sound presents hip hop as an integral part of youth expression, rooted in the outskirts of the city of Lisbon, inserting it into the national music scene, but, above all, highlighting its uniqueness from Almada, the most local thing that these “middle children” have brought to the national music scene since then.
At the same time, Casa da Cidade will host a complementary programme, one Saturday a month, where music, dance and graffiti will be the main starting points for conversations and workshops dedicated to the central theme of this exhibition….”
I visited the opening session yesterday, some snapshots below
João Avelar images 