Jacira da Conceição

Jacira da Conceição born February 23, 1990 is an artist and investigator (CHAIA - Évora University) who works with ceramic sculpture and different media and multi-techniques such as textiles or found objects. Her artistic practice is closely linked to her cultural identity.She was born in 1990 and grew up on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde. She lives and works between Cabo Verde and Portugal. In her work, she is deeply involved with the elements of nature and with the observation of the immaterial. Working with ceramics for her means a very poetic approach to clay, a material that reflects the beauty, original harmony and deep nature with its elements of water, fire, space, light and fragility, even in its handling. Jacira da Conceição sees her artistic action as a fusion with space, the everyday gesture, life itself. At the same time, ceramics and its techniques, mostly performed by women, are at the heart of her artistic work, but also the island, the meaning of rain and the sea, the seasons, the community of potter and their affinities in gesture and spirit, and the fact that the land is something shared. Her work emanates an almost ritual poetry, female sculptures that speak of a feminine vision of existence. "The pot is a place that unites people, that passes from hand to hand, made of earth, the same earth that carries us."

Training

2023 Master's student in artistic practices in visual arts at the University of Évora
2022 Research residency in Tarrafal de Santiago with funding from the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation grant
2015-2017 Research into traditional Cape Verdean ceramics in Trás di Munti potters
village, Municipality of Tarrafal, Santiago Island, Cape Verde
2009 Research residency with the community of women potters and ceramists in the
Itamatatiua Quilombo