DORI NIGRO & PAULO PINTOAlva Escura, a lesson in sugar

Alva Escura, a lesson in sugar evokes colonial wounds present in the ways in which demographic censuses are scrutinized, censuses that mask the ethnic identification of people descended from the violent African diaspora. As a sweet colonial legacy, racism has persisted to this day in all its different guises. The performance points out contradictions in recipes, old/current, learned/taught about civilization. Confronting past/present, dialogues of otherness are sketched where the word is news, prayer, smell, taste, provoking the senses, unfolding an imaged based song of personal/ancestral memories.

Dori Nigro and Paulo Pinto (Brazil/Portugal) are creators, performers, art educators and researchers who have studied at the Catholic University of Pernambuco, the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Porto, and the College of Arts at the University of Coimbra. Partners in life and art that they create by activating themes linked to ancestry, spirituality, popular culture; affective memories; colonial heritage; dissident bodies; education, mental health, and finitude. They work in pairs, in partnership with other artist friends, with family, with different groups and communities, and sometimes alone with the care of others. They are responsible for LÁRòyé, a workshop/house of affective, creative, and ancestral sharing; Tuia de Artifícios, a creative collective; Laboratório dos Sentidos, workshops for experimentation with different groups, woven by artistic practices, art/education and art therapy. Their work has been recognized by the Salão Único de Arte Contemporânea do SESC/PE; SPA das Artes de Pernambuco; Galeria Municipal do Porto; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves; Museu Bienal de Cerveira; Bienal de Fotografia do Porto; Campus Paulo Cunha e Silva; Trema Festival - Quilombo Trema; Festival Dias da Dança - DDD; Shuttle program, Artistic Internationalization; DGARtes - Direção Geral de Artes de Portugal.