MAKING PORTUGAL
Desafiando o passado. Mecenato e agência dos Africanos e Afro-descendentes nas artes e na arquitetura de época moderna em Portugal durante o tráfico negreiro transatlântico (1486-1836)
MAKING PORTUGAL aims to rethink the early modern history of European art and architecture, using Portugal as an exploratory case. The main ambition is to unveil the active role of people of African birth or descent in the construction or creation of what is currently considered Portuguese National Heritage (both tangible and intangible). The idea is to recover the lost traces of patronage, funding, taste choices, production, and realization carried out by black individuals or communities who, coming to or being born in Portugal, lived here as enslaved, freed or free people. As provocatively proposed by Olivette Otele in 2020, they were African Europeans, and from this new perspective our perception of Portuguese artistic history can radically change. Thus, it is crucial to rethink the role of people from African territories in Portuguese art and architecture within the chronological background of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (1486 -1836), especially in the fields of European classical traditions where the history of Portuguese arts and architecture did not focus on African Europeans as possible protagonists. Taking Portugal as an exploratory case, MAKING PORTUGAL aims to be a pilot project to extend in the future to other European countries, in particular to Italy and the Mediterranean area.
The big questions posed by MAKING PORTUGAL are:
- Were the African Europeans makers of Portuguese artistic and architectural heritage, such as other groups and figures of patrons or investors?
- If yes, how, why and to what extend did they make it?
Bringing to light the plural construction of early modern Portuguese arts and architecture (architecture, painting, sculpture, music, theatre, and dance), MAKING PORTUGAL aims to unveil exclusions, invisibilities, and silences regarding African Europeans. This will allow us to enrich and better understand the past, altering our perception and knowledge of what is/was defined as “Portuguese”. The main objective is not just about understanding the transformation produced by the encounter with African cultural backgrounds and artistic traditions in the Portuguese cultural landscape, but about focusing on and assessing the impact of the African Europeans’ prominence in the fields of visual and performing arts and of architecture, despite – as Fromont wrote (2022) –European in form, craftsmanship, and, partially, intended audience.
Thus, MAKING PORTUGAL unfolds in four goals:
- Producing new knowledge and changing the paradigm on the history of visual and performing arts and architecture in early modern Portugal;
- Building a path-breaking thinking on the theme that could be applied to other European countries;
- Sharing and building new knowledge with Portuguese young generations, mostly of African descent, through participatory practices based on creativity;
- Disseminating the scientific, participatory and creative results throughout the digital platform AAAfrican Portugal [Art Architecture African Portugal].
Cláudia Pato de Carvalho
Giuseppina Raggi (coord)
Hugo Daniel Silva
Iskrena Dimova Yordanova
Margarida Calafate Ribeiro
Paulo Almeida Fernandes
Rui Lobo
Mário Carneiro
Rosa Botequilha
