We are delighted to be one of three international residecies hosting awardees of the Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize. This international prize was created by the City of Porto, Portugal, in tribute to its late Councillor for Culture Paulo Cunha e Silva (1962 – 2015), a central figure for the city’s artistic life. The award, held every two years in Porto, recognises the talent of new generations of national and international artists.

Nine artists were nominated for the Prize by an international jury: artist Ângela Ferreira, Jan van Eyck Academie Director Hicham Khalidi, and cultural programmer Tabitha Thorlu-Banguraand. An exhibition of work by the selected artists was held at Galeria Municipal do Porto in the summer this year.

This year’s edition underlines the Prize’s commitment to fostering creation and cultural exchange by establishing a partnership with three international residencies: Arquipélago Centro de Artes in S. Miguel, Azores, Pivô, in São Paulo, and Cove Park.

The recipient of the Cove Park residency is Luis M S Santos. Based in Mozambique, Luis was selected for this residency by an international panel including artist, former resident, and Cove Park Associate Ciara Phillips.

Luis graduated in sculpture by Faculdade de Belas Artes do Porto in Portugal in 2016, and is currently based in Mozambique where he lectures in the Faculty of Arts in Instituto Superior de Artes e Cultura. His first solo exhibition, “Aquilo que o corpo já esqueceu”(“That which the body has forgotten”), took place in 2019 in Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano in Maputo, Mozambique.

The Artist has participated in many collective exhibitions in and out of Mozambique, such as, L’atelier 2017, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the exhibition “Pares” in the 3rd International Bienal of Gaia in 2019 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, “FNB Art Joburg” 2020 and in the audio visual artistic residency Upcycles 2021 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Santos thinks of his sculptures as live entities, inhabitants of a place far from society and surrounded by nature. Contrasting textures, forms, colors and materials, enrich their skins creating a series of rhythms and brakes of fluidity. Conceptually the artist explores social-cultural aspects of his surroundings and the lack of harmony between Men and nature.