The
place where Isabel lives with her family is about 15 minutes walk
from the village Trás di Munti. The houses in the village have
electricity, there is a public well in it's center, a primary school
and CAO, Center for Arts and Crafts, where mostly women work with
ceramics and textile. Both Isabel and Mariazinha do the ceramics in
traditional style and Marcia is learning quickly. Isabel is working
at home in her “studio”, a low, dark house built from stone,
where chicken often enter. When her plates, animals, crosses and pots
dry, they are put together on one spot, covered by dried cow manure
and dry branches and then burnt. Next day the ceramics is ready.
Their work is often funny, not perfectly round and smooth, but full
of life. Because of little imperfections, Isabel isn't selling very
well. On the other hand she is also a healer and that brings income.
Every year they plant corn, beans, pumpkin. If it rains, they have
what to eat and sometimes they save for the next year. But in
a dry land as Cabo Verde there are years when there is not rain at
all. Water has a big value.
There is no well close to Isabel's house so the water is brought by a truck and put in a big tank on the hill behind the house. It is a place, where Mariazinha takes care of cows. Some are hers, some have another owner. Early in the morning Mariazinha milks the cow. After dry summer as in 2014, when there is literally no crop, Mariazinha needs to find another source of income, so she goes to the town Praia to help in other houses and she sells animals: cows, chickens, pigs. Marcia now studies in a secondary school in Tarrafal, so most of the week she stays there and only in weekend she returns home. She is a good pupil, she has a talent for drawing and work with clay, but her wish is to be an accountant.
And
Luciana, the smallest, is playing around the house, in complete
freedom, playing with dogs and cat, with her used and dirty dolls, or
with anything she finds around. She is smart and she likes to joke,
as her grandmother too. Mariazinha smiles a lot and her smile is
contagious. While Marcia is the most serious and her face almost
shows a suspicion, she is kind and hard-working.
Isabel's
family isn't poor. Not in my perspective (or in the perspective of
rural capeverdians). Their house is getting bigger piece by piece
every year. To the contrary of many families from this area, they
don't wish to move to Europe. Although Isabel visited Portugal and
she liked the experience. But the main reason, why I don't consider
them poor is a simple happiness in their life.
In
2015 I returned to Cabo Verde with an artistic project for Isabel's
House. I wanted to paint large scale murals on the house and also to
film the everyday life of this family during one month. Before the
travel I wasn't sure about what to paint. I didn't want to paint my
personal motif, I preferred to use a painting as a way to focus on
and celebrate what is already present in the place. I asked every
member of the family what they like most/what is most important for
them in the house. Isabel chose a rainwater, Mariazinha a cow, Marcia
her sketchbook and Luciana a doll. I chose different wall for each of
them so when you look at the house from every angle, you can see at
least one painting. In addition, I decided to paint one of their
dogs, Merda (shit in portuguese). Dogs have low value in Cabo Verde,
they have little purpose for human survival and so they aren't very
well treated. Also we painted one wall together with Marcia – it
depicts different pots and containers used for water.
