Summer BOWING

We dive together into the waves of Praia da Amália in Brejão. Hand-in-hand, we accompany the teenagers all dressed, entering the sea for the first time, even though they live so few kilometres away. We spend two days on the beach, not only plunging into the sea but also with a concrete goal: building a city. Architect Clara Queiroz Lopes visited the project, and about 15 teenagers from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China created house plans and then realised their ideas in sand from the beach. In the process, a shelter was built with reeds, stones and saris: a tent where everybody rested and ate during those days of heat and salt. The illustrator Beatriz Machado accompanied us and documented the process with drawings and paintings. You can find a link to access her drawing gallery on this page. Summer BOWING came about as a response to the isolation felt by most young people during the summer vacations. Over two summers (2021-22), we gathered a group of young people in sessions spread throughout the district in July. We had meditation meetings in Almograve led by the participants, choreographic creations in abandoned houses, workshops at the São Teotónio School with the theme of travel in which they were authors of fictional and poetic passports, and the ‘Obedience Games’ - a visit by the artists Romeu Costa and Marta Carreiras that, over a week, explored the concept of democracy and culminated in short presentations. Marta and Romeu used technology as a performative tool, playing with power dynamics and challenging the teenagers to question and share their lives and behaviours. SUMMER BOWING was primarily about swimming in the sea, eating meals together, talking and playing.