Archive

Migration and mediation: the case of the artistic projet BOWING in Southwest Portugal

Inês Melo Sousa

OPEN CLASS
MAY 23RD OF 2024, 10AM
ROOM 44 OF EP1 – ESAD.CR

Bowing was a project co-financed by FCGulbenkian’s PARTIS and took place from 2020 to 2023 between Aljezur and Odemira, bringing together professional and migrant artists (teenagers and adults) from migrant communities doing agricultural work in the Southwest zone. Through artistic creations and pedagogical experiences, a team led by Madalena Victorino, Inês Melo and Matilde Real, worked together with migrant communities in schools and localities to create annual shows open to the entire population. The mediations were artistic but also cultural thanks to the encounter between multiple cultures from distant horizons. The result of this intense work is available on the new website: www.bowing.pt

Inês Melo Sousa studied dance at the London Studio Center in London, England, with a degree from Middlesex University in 2014. She lived in England until 2019, where she worked as a dancer and teacher.
Her interest in the relationship between artistic practice and social/community practice led her to move to Alentejo, in the municipality of Odemira, to work on participatory art projects. From 2020 to 2024 she collaborated with choreographer Madalena Victorino, as a performer and co-creator in projects and shows, including: BOWING (2021 – 2024), POVOADO (2022); IMMENSE, Take a Seat (2022). It was in this process that her relationship with dance transformed. Her work has increasingly developed into this practice of inclusion, where art serves as a mechanism for bringing together, mediating and transforming human relationships. She also worked on projects such as “PARA VÓS – Celebrar 5 anos de Activismo Affectivo” (2023), with artistic direction by Cláudia Andrade, VAGA (2024) with artistic direction by Matilde Real.