The project “artE pORtas abErtas” in the Old Town of Funchal continues to live and change. A group of young artists from Funchal is finishing a new work of art in Zona Velha. The mural is part of a project with an ambitious name – “Art Is My Weapon” and is part of the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union.
The idea behind the project is to bring creativity and art to unite young people across Europe and encourage solidarity, inclusion and resilience in the face of COVID-19. Young Madeirans have already participated in training in Slovenia and in an exchange in North Macedonia where they created a mural in the town of Struga, next to Lake Ohrid, with several meters in length and a joint creation of the international team.
In Madeira, the project is managed by My Madeira Island association in partnership with ARTE.M and Art Center Caravel. Simultaneously, the project is being developed in the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Spain and North Macedonia.
The young artists themselves, participating in the project in Madeira, say the following:
Carlota Rodrigues Gomes
«With this drawing I tried to recreate what came to my mind when I heard the name of the project, which is "Art is my Weapon", I decided to remember the history of the building in which our works are located. Firstly, I represented a partially burned photograph, in this photograph the place where I spent the last few days participating in the project is portrayed, on fire, with a brush passing over it, hiding the fire»
Micaela Sofia Vasconcelos Martinez
«With this painting, I wanted to revive the pain felt by the community when they saw this building being consumed by flames. Being that this building carries with it an immense history and culture, when corroded by the flames it generated tremendous pain and frustration. In order to convey this message, I used the eyes with flames of fire inside, since “the eyes are the window to the soul” and the soul of the people who had a connection with this building was completely burned and left in authentic ashes and ruins. . I used black, white and gray tones in order to characterize the ash generated after the Fire. It was also intended to place an irregular background with different tones to characterize the way in which the soul of the community was left after such an event»
Gabriel Henrique Olim
«With this painting I wanted to represent how fire has the power and strength to dominate and destroy, in this case the fire destroyed the building in which my painting is located, but I wanted to think a little further than the physical destruction it caused, I thought of all the memories of the people who once lived there and how sad it had to be for them to see the place where they were raised burn like this destroying a large part of these people”
Diana Gonçalves
“The main focus of my work was to represent the expression “Art is my weapon”, introducing the general theme of the 4 works, the fires in the country. As the main focus, I painted a tree, very alive and green, which is protected by brushes that, with the power of art, manage to extinguish the flames that travel along a wire on the way to spoil the beauty of nature.
The flames present were created by a lighter, a literal way of highlighting the fact that, according to an article in the Público newspaper in 2002, 98% of the fires that occur are man-made.
I speak for myself and my colleagues when I say that painting in Zona Velha was a great experience, we worked on an important theme and, using acrylic paint as a medium, we spread a great message. Thank you to everyone who provided us with all this”
Comentários