Meet Tutu Sousa, an artist who has created an open-air gallery in Cape Verde

A recent article published on the BANTUMEN portal traces the career of Tutu Sousa, a Cape Verdean visual artist that, for more than two decades, has challenged the musical hegemony on the country’s cultural scene by occupying the public space with visual arts. Founder of Galeria Tutu Sousa and the community project Rua d’Arte – an open-air art gallery, the artist is celebrating eight years of his physical gallery in Praia and is preparing to represent Cape Verde at international fairs in Dubai and Vienna.

Despite this recognition, Tutu criticizes the lack of institutional support for the visual arts and denounces the bureaucratic obstacles faced by artists in the archipelago. Among his plans is the creation of a private museum dedicated to Cape Verdean memory and identity.

For more information, check out the full interview, in Portuguese, on the BANTUMEN website.

 

Photo: Harald Fagner (CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0)