The condition of illegality in the spontaneous slums of the city of Mindelo demonstrates the strength of occupation as a manifest for the right to housing. From my proximity to this reality, I propose a perspective from the interior of the tin houses, through a view on the utopias that drive people's lives. Through the aesthetics of the interior of the tin houses, I created a mapping of their references, like a kind of panel of their world - family members alive, the deceased, those nearby, those far away, religions, sports, escapes, the marks of the promises of politicians in the electoral campaign, much of what they have accumulated throughout their lives. The relevance of this mapping is evident in the questioning the validity of aesthetics, its symbolic value, and understanding of its diversity.

 

The aesthetics of the panels refer us to the place, spontaneous, informal, and "illegal", but the dimension addressed is not the territorial, it is human. In these panels, there is an invisibility of the singular subject, but from the various elements of the composition, the subject in the plural is gradually understood. In their diversity, the panels function as collages, where there is no closed interpretation by the viewer, but rather a relationship with the construction of who is seen. People matter to me, and it is about them that I want to talk about.

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The power of self-transformation comes from this represented context and is a reflection of the collective action of resilience. The visibility of their interior is also part of the utopia.

 

Catchupa Factory - New Photographers

Photography. Ângelo Lopes

Curator. John Fleetwood and Diogo Bento

Location. São Vicente, Cape Verde

Date. 2017