“O que fazemos com isto?” is a Braga 25 project, directed by Hugo Cruz, which seeks to address the multiple colonial pasts and silences from different perspectives and experiences.
The project is divided into different stages, culminating in a programme cycle that will include the presentation of various original creations: a book, a film performance and round tables on the theme.
After a call to form the group of young people who are part of this project (young people with a connection to Braga and/or Portuguese-speaking countries), several meetings were organised for reflection, sharing and discussion around colonial issues, which took place at the Sé La Vie bar and were attended by different guests.
These sessions included names such as researcher and activist Kitty Furtado, artist and curator Melissa Rodrigues, artist and researcher Dori Nigro, photographer Patrícia Barbosa and researcher Marcus Vinicius de Oliveira.
The reflections and work developed in these meetings are the basis for the new phase of the project, focussed on artistic creation. This phase kicked off with a literary creation workshop led by the writer Ondjaki, which took place between 12 and 14 December at the Estufa’s Ludoteca.
Ondjaki is the author of several works such as ‘Bom Dia Camaradas’, a novel centred on the Luanda of his childhood – the 1980s – after Angola’s independence. He is a member of the Union of Angolan Writers and the winner of various literary prizes, such as the José Saramago Prize and, more recently, the Vergílio Ferreira Prize for his work as a whole.
In his workshop, Ondjaki worked with the young participants on the essential elements and themes for creating the short stories that will form part of the book to be published in November next year as part of this project.
The artistic creation stage will continue in 2025, with a session of public readings based on the short stories developed, which will be guided by the artist Marinho Pinho.
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This project has the partnership of the MigraMediaActs project of the Centre for Communication and Society Studies at the University of Minho.