Newsletter  287
May 2026
Soon, this newsletter will not be updated any more.
Please check www.Obrasresidencies.com for the latest news

Our first fruits: mulberry and nespera, are ready to be harvested, and artistic fruits are ripening. 
Residents in May are Sanneke Griepink (visual artist; Holland), Niv Harman (musician; Israel), Johanna Jarry (writer; Canada), Marina Lacroix (visual artist; Holland), Manuel Leromain (visual artist; France), Martin Stepheus (visual artist; Belgium), Maya Koenig (visual artist; Israel), Ingrid Simons (visual artist; Holland), Janke Klompmaker (visual artist; Holland), Dan Aires (writer; UK, Germany), Wilma Geldoff (writer; Holland), George Sanchez (performance artist: USA) and Patty Ortiz (multimedia; USA).

This newsletter shows some recent highlights. Residencies of 2025 are on the 2025 page. 

Ingrid Simons (Holland) will stay for nearly months. During her residency, she plans to create around fifteen medium and large sized oil paintings. In addition, she will work with ceramics and attend a textile workshop in Araiolos.
On May 17, Ingrid gave a live performance: she painted a 5-meter-long scroll with Indian ink while contemplating the nature surrounding her. It was an impressive, nearly spiritual experience. After the performance, Elisa de Mira and Jose Rodrigues sang a few Cantas Alentejanas.

Marina Lacroix (Holland) chose an autobiographical starting point for her project. For almost two years, she has been suffering from Long COVID, resulting in a life cut off from everybody and everything, lived at an extremely slow pace. At the same time, she reflected on whether illness could be understood as a form of breaking, and breaking as a form of birth. Human beings are capable of beginning anew, doing the unexpected, surprising others, and breaking free from what seems set in stone.
This became Marina’s realisation. She reflected on her recent past with a great deal of humour and a positive spirit. The project evolved into a contemplation on the perception of time and connection, rather than a therapeutic or autobiographical exercise. The result was a wonderful outdoor exhibition.

Maya Koenig (Israel) works with photography and painting in her artistic practice and is currently experimenting with embroidery. Her inspiration, however, is primarily conceptual. She is fascinated by imperfection and explores the nature of memory.
She often begins with a photographic portrait and then paints the scene. In the painting, however, the figure has disappeared, and the background has become largely abstract. Some of the images in the slideshow are taken from her website.

Martin Schepkens (Belgium) is inspired by the way time leaves marks on matter. He worked with old fabrics, which he impregnated with charcoal, ash, sand, and clay. Ash, for instance, bears witness to what once was and no longer is.
Martin took full advantage of the large studio — a unique opportunity for him — by creating monumental canvases and exhibiting them as one big installation. Their scale and spatial presence, the absence of colour, the three-dimensional quality, and the intriguing marks on the surfaces left a deep impression on everyone.

Niv Harman is currently composing a symphonic piano concerto, tentatively titled When the Oaks Sing. It is inspired by the majesty and mythical presence of the oaks that surround the residency. He gave an informal concert to share his preliminary work, and everyone was deeply impressed.

Sanneke Griepink (Holland) was inspired by the majesty of centuries-old oak and olive trees, as well as by the millennia-old megalithic monuments. She also experimented with gel printing in combination with various types of paper. Especially the leaves of the Grevillea tree did a good job. Sanneke was so productive that she needed to pay for 25 kg extra kilograms of luggage on her flight home.

During her 2023 residency, Jil Guyon created Threshold; a video of her performance on the rooftop of the fortress of Evoramonte.
Threshold is a black-and-white short film about a woman imprisoned in a fortress. Through experimental imagery, haunting music, and a distinctive visual style, the film tells a story of captivity and despair, but also of the longing for freedom, survival, seduction, and power.

This stunningly beautiful work of art will now be screened on June 7 at 3 pm at the Abrons Art Center in Manhattan, New York City. We are delighted to have contributed to the organisation and production of this project.

Modris Svilāns (Latvia) just published a video recording of his sound performance, presented on the Open Studio on 21 September. He used field recordings from marble quarries, nature around the residence, and sound of kinetic works that he created for this purpose. His performance was a 23-minutes improvisation of mixing the sounds of the field recordings and the sonic structure of the kinetic objects.  His audience was deeply impressed.

At his artist talk and final presentation, Manuel Leromain (France) made a beautiful statement on what he tried to achieve and what the impact of the surroundings were:  “I have the feeling that this environment helps bring out a light that is hidden inside us. These moments feel honest, beautiful, joyful, and full of meaning. It is as if our soul, mind, and body come together in harmony, simply to create. From this light comes a deep sense of balance, with many colors and subtle shades. That is exactly what I try to capture in my paintings.”

OBRAS 25!

This year, OBRAS is celebrating 25 years of activity. As we look ahead, we are pleased to announce that OBRAS will continue its work under the guidance of a new management team. A careful and well-planned transition is already underway to ensure minimal impact on the residencies and artistic program. We look forward to sharing more information with you soon.

Evora European Capital of Culture 2027

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Evora will become the European Capital of Culture in 2027. 
The theme of this event is “vagar”, which means wander without hurry. It refers to the vision that “slow” can bring better quality in daily live.  

Several former OBRAS residents submitted a project proposal, but have not been very successful so far. We are still waiting for some results and hope they will be positive.
One project proposal that was not selected: Mármore: uma pedra Património,  will get a second change in another setting.
The competition was extremely strong: fewer than 4%: out of 1,200 applications were accepted. There are undoubtedly valid reasons for the selection, but the focus appears to be heavily on the performing arts, a field for which the OBRAS residents did not apply. For us is disappointing to conclude that other goals of Évora_27—such as attention to landscape, heritage, sustainable development, and activities outside Évora—are nearly not selected.

spring time in Alentejo

Storks and swallows are building their nests and a first butterfly begs for attention. We are surrounded by a carpet of estava (gum rose). This is spring in the Alentejo.