pedro&ines, a duo formed in 2021 by Inês Costa and Thiago Liberdade, presents the “Atlas” project. This multidisciplinary initiative combines research, design and visual arts to broaden image literacy and stimulate public discussion about the visuality of Portugal's colonial past.
Focusing on the colonial invasions (the so-called “discoveries”), “Atlas” unfolds in an audiovisual exhibition of four works, each centered on a key visual symbol: the caravel, sugar, the cross and the flag. Through a combination of design techniques, digital animation, archival materials and multimedia, the project analyses the history of colonization from the 16th century to the present day, seeking to highlight the construction of the colonial narrative and its reverberations in European memory and identity.
The “Atlas” project began with the selection in the “MANIFEST: New artistic perspectives on memories of the transatlantic trade of enslaved people”, co-financed by the European Commission through the Creative Europe program, with GERADOR as a partner. This phase included two artist residencies and a group exhibition in 2024 at the L'Atelier gallery in Nantes.
The Atlas exhibition will open on May 28, 2025, at 7pm, at CRL - Central Elétrica, in Porto, and will run until June 11, 2025. As part of the project, there will be a talk open to the public on May 31 at 4pm at Bikini Books.
This project was supported by the DGArtes Project Support Program - Visual Arts 2023.