Mindelo

From resistance and fantasy, interview with Luísa Queirós and Shipwrecks and Abandoned Boats

Stories told by women from Santo Antão about women-cats-witches and midwives of mermaids that go to the bottom of the sea, to the palace of the “enchanting” to provide their services by receiving three stones that will turn into gold. I really like this universe, and I take the opportunity to create characters for my art. Today, I work on a series based on the abandoned boats that existed in Galé (Cova da Inglesa) and the shipwrecked boats in the seas of Cape Verde. I believe that each artist should look within themselves for authenticity and get “contaminated” with the atmosphere around them: so they will reach a universal projection.

Face to face

11.06.2026 | by Marta Lança

Flows and tourism: notes from "As Cidades e as Trocas", by Luísa Homem and Pedro Pinho

Shot of Avenida Marginal: tourists walk along it for leasure, Cape Verdeans working. The accumulation of images creates a parallel view, of a world that interacts, but is mutually unaware of each other. We then begin to discover a reading line of the movie. The two worlds are presented to us in a certain manichaeism, famously assumed by the directors. On one side, the resilience of the islanders and their ability to take advantage of scarce resources. The struggling Cape Verdeans who resist the constraints that harass them, whose difficult lives are mitigated by interpersonal relationships of solidarity and some alienation.