Vitorino Planas e António França

One of several murals scattered throughout the city of Coimbra, honoring the workers of the factory that ceased operations. Work that is part of the FIO Project – Memory as Raw Material, by João Samina.

The "FIO | MEMÓRIAS COMO MATÉRIA-PRIMA" (WIRE | MEMORIES AS RAW MATERIAL) project, with a strong community focus, explored the history of the former Santa Clara Wool Factory. Using portraits of former factory workers, artist Samina presents a period in the history of one of the country's most important cultural and conference centers, the São Francisco Convent.

The "FIO | Memories as Raw Material" project, by João Samina, curated by the artistic platform Mistaker Maker, also responsible for the production of the mural "Tem Sempre Encanto" (Always Enchanting), is a series of murals dotting the city and its outskirts, paying homage to the city's industrial past. Lara Seixo Rodrigues, founder of Mistaker Maker, considers urban art "a tool for transformation." And this transformation can be "necessary, urgent, and specific, in any type of territory, with varying degrees of history, varying degrees of monumentality." As in the “case of Coimbra”, he says, “a city that we all think we know and recognize, but which contains so much to (re)discover”.

18/08/2025

Author: João Samina

Avenida Emídio Navarro