- a moment of realization, change and/or disruption – understanding the connection between art and all spheres of life. / understanding that, when we choose to be in the world as artists/creators, it is not only about the action/objects we make, it is about how this action transforms us and creates new worlds
- a moment of connection
Feeling the humanity though the internet /being present, in community, in connection even through distance/ realizing I am not alone in my practice/research
- any tools / methods / resources to share – (1) do not fully deny institutions/market – work from the inside out, subverting, modifying the existing systems. (2) Keep a record and mapping of your processes which is something that can be shared (3) accept uncertainty as part of the process (4) nurture yourself
- a question you are left with – How to contextualize/implement/sustain a system in a country which is not still recognizing this as art practice. This is both challenging and exciting
- something you will carry forward - realizing that the design of the systems / collaborations surrounding art practice is also part of the works, and often the work in itself (so I start to acknowledge them as my own practice). Also carrying along all the beautiful connections made thought the residency, which were still the greatest gift, despite of the distance.
I'm a visual artist based in Lisbon. I consider I'm quite at the beginning of my professional practice (mostly since 2017). My work focuses on identity, or identities, and what constitutes them. If can be framed between visual arts, socially engaged art and anthropology. I usually work with communities and specific territories, mostly using drawing as a way to communicate, empathize of make sense of the place and the other.
I am finishing my MA at the faculty of fine arts of Lisbon researching about these topics.
I've also studied at Montenegro (FLU Cetinje), Latvia (LMA) and Estonia (EKA) during the academic period
Before this, I studied and worked in the fields of economics and management, which might seem non related at first but brought really important tools to my work and also a recurring interest in society.
I am developing many socially engaged art projects at the moment (sometimes it is hard to handle them all) but I will speak about the ones I will be developing during UNIDEE Residency
I am a resident artist at a cooperative called LARGO Residências which works since 10 years in the field of social practice and arts (mostly connected to performance)
Since 2019 they are are having a wider interest for visual arts.
During the UNIDEE Residency I will be working with the following projects:
“Arts and crafts group”: I will be working with a group of refugees focused on the practice of craft. How can craft be a tool to express ourselves, to document our live but also lead to emancipation? We will be creating a shop and installation of our works for the “Bairro em Festa” festival which will happen in July, also at Intendente
"Grandma didn't tell me" I am working with women of 65+ years about their memories of Portuguese dictatorship. We will produce an exhibition (mostly with drawing and installation), a publication and also social events. I will also develop a similar project with Hungarian women, this July, in Budapest.
"Mapping and connecting" I am interested in mapping and connecting the artists and researchers who are interested in sharing their knowledge and are engaged with society. I hold different initiatives and weekly conversations with them on my instagram. These conversations already led to different projects and collaborations (such as a collaboration with the artist Constança Saraiva for a pedagogical project)
You can check my instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/ligiampfernandes
You can also also check my website, which I am actually building at this moment :)
https://ligiampfernandes.wixsite.com/ligia
In this residency I will be interested in learning about structures that allow these type of projects to develop in a sustainable way and also produce inputs for other fields of knowledge and citizenship. Also I believe a network with other artists and practitioners is already a very important structure.