SIMA 2023
IFEMA Madrid
Av. del Partenón, 5
28042 Madrid
Spain

Bringing History Forward: Creating an Inclusive Narrative

“South Circular” is exhibited at the Idealista stand at the Salão Imobiliário de Portugal (SIL) – it will also be exhibited at the Madrid Real Estate Fair (SIMA), which runs from May 24 to 27 – having won the 5th edition of the competition Idealista Contemporary Art Prize 2023. “It is a project of investigation and mapping of the city of Lisbon, that is, of an invisible city. The city that exists on the outskirts and is linked to migratory flows and diaspora”, she tells idealista/news, considering that “there is another Lisbon that is hidden”.


“South Circular” is a reflection on the city of Lisbon, more specifically on the military defense wall that was built in 1899 to keep the French away from the Portuguese capital and that, a century later, became a territory inhabited by Africans from the former Portuguese colonies along with people from rural areas without the means to live in the desired prosperity. This fortified line, called Campo de Trincheiras, consists of a circular line that skirts the northern side of the Portuguese capital and runs along much of the southern bank. In these spaces. The artist visited to ruins and areas recently inhabited by African communities and developed a narrative and visual framework of places and moments of historical significance, where memory, nostalgia and a vision of the modern city and its inhabitants coexist.

Adapted text by Elisa Hernando