“That task is up to each one of us: loving, sharing and encouraging the creators of dreams.”
Luísa Queirós
“FIOS” [“STRINGS”] is an exhibition that presents three generations of male and female artists and artisans: the generation that created the Cape Verdean tapestry at CNA and the following two that are exploring it with new approaches.
In 1979, CNA received the first Cape Verdean Tapestry “Mercado de Peixe” [“Fish Market”], a piece woven from national carded wool and cotton, manually spun at CNA.
While Manuel Figueira Gallery focuses on CNA/CNAD’s entire history, Luísa Queirós Gallery, on the other hand, concentrates on tapestry, a technique with strong expression in the islands’ artistic creation. These exhibitions are all cut from the same cloth.
“FIOS – Tapeçaria de Cabo Verde” [“STRINGS – Cabo Verde’s Tapestry”] contemplates artworks produced between the late 1970s and 1980s, as well as the results of two creative residencies: “URDIDURAS – Tecendo Olhares.2” (2016), including pieces from CNA’s second generation: masters João Fortes, Joana Pinto, and Marcelino dos Santos, and “TEADA” (2018), by Alex da Silva and Bento Oliveira (third generation); and Manuel Figueira (first generation) with the masters mentioned above, as well as artisans Helder Medina, Helder Santos and Valdemiro Pina. Besides bringing three generations together, “TEADA” marks a new conceptual and aesthetic approach and translates the contemporaneity of Cabo Verde’s art world.

“Carnaval”, Marcelino Santos, São Vicente, 1993 (detail)
© Diogo Bento

Untitled, Manuel Figueira, São Vicente, 2018
© Diogo Bento