Applications for the Flechada program have already been evaluated. Five young artists between the ages of 24 and 31 will receive funding of up to €10,000 each to organize their first solo exhibition.

Blac Dwelle, Francisca Pinto, Francisca Valador, Guilherme Figueiredo and Letícia Costelho were the artists who presented the five exhibition projects selected in the first edition of Flechada – Support Program for First Individual Exhibitions, which had more than 80 high-quality applications. This program arose from the need to support young artists in their first solo exhibition, a moment considered crucial for their launch as professional artists.

According to the jury “the selection was made taking into account the quality of the exhibition proposals, portfolios, curricula and motivation letters, having also taken into account the location of the projects and the relevance of the research themes for the current artistic and social moment”.

The five young people will receive a funding grant from FLAD with a value of up to 10 thousand euros to organize a unique exhibition project in the places chosen and approved within the scope of the application, which you can learn about below.

Selected projects:

“Past ‘m ka skcel, Present ‘m ta vivel, Ftur ‘m ka conchel.” | Blac Dwelle

“Passado ‘m ka skcel, Presente ‘m ta vivel, Ftur ‘m ka conchel,” inspired by the music of Cape Verdean artist Ildo Lobo, proposes a deep immersion in my ancestry and in the narratives of Cape Verdean immigration to Portugal. With a particular focus on my family’s experiences and life stories, as well as on the voices and bodies that make up the social and demographic fabric of the South Bank of the Tagus, specifically the city of Barreiro.

Exhibition dates: 12 October to 09 November 2024

Place: Pada studios, Barreiro

Bio: Blac Dwelle is the Cape Verdean-born artist, Ricardo Piedade (b. 1993). With a professional degree in Graphic Design from Etic – School of Technology, Innovation and Creation, she has been developing, since 2014, an artistic practice focused mainly on sculpture, painting and drawing. Combining figurative and abstract elements, his visual language reveals his fondness for exploring colors and shapes, patterns and elements.

 

“Vaivém” | Francisca Pinto

The exhibition focuses on the idea of time as an agent of transformation. In the works presented, the artist creates several temporal planes or moments that, accumulated and superimposed, transcend the space between the personal and external worlds. In addition to several oil paintings, made in the last 2 years between London and Portugal, new ceramic pieces and an in situ installation of screen printing will also be presented.

Exhibition dates: May 22 to June 16, 2024

Place: Ostra Practice, Lisbon

Bio: Francisca Pinto was born in Vila do Conde, Portugal (1995). Lives and works in London, UK. She is currently studying at the Royal Academy Schools until 2026. She works mainly with drawing and painting, and the images she creates are fundamentally about human relationships and notions of intimacy, as well as a search for connection between the inner and outer world.

 

“As primeiras flores são amarelas” | Francisca Valador

The yellow flowers are the first to bloom. Wild, for the most part, some weeds, unwanted. From popular names with double meanings: sorrels, dandelions, mimosas, daffodils. These wild flowers defy permanence. We have this idea of being able to understand beauty by capturing it. When they are harvested, they faint.

In minerals, plants, animals, stars, meteorological phenomena, yellow extends in natural environments. And although my work has a great focus on this type of elements, this color appears very punctually – small beams of light. This luminous quality can be very attractive, however I consider it a color to see from the outside. This time, the challenge will be to have it as the center.

Exhibition dates: 28 November 2024 to 05 January 2025

Place: Arbag, Lisbon

Bio: Francisca Valador (1993, Lisbon) lives and works in Lisbon. She studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon and did a postgraduate degree in Artistic Practices and Pedagogical Processes at ESEI Maria Ulrich. Since 2016, he has participated in several projects and exhibitions

 

“Virtual Parasite: Songs of Escape” | Guilherme Figueiredo

Based on the influence of video games, this project explores the transformation of perception, by highlighting the relationships between body, virtual space and reality.

Guided by Johan Huizinga, the work investigates the temporary arenas of the games, while reflecting on notions such as escapism and parasitism.

By analysing the parasitic cycle of Plagiorhynchus Cylindraceus as a metaphor, the project examines the relationships between the sites included in this circuit—the stomachs of songbirds and the bodies of billworms—exploring the complexities of notions of escapism and parasitism.

Exhibition dates: 05 September to 03 October 2024

Place: Arbag, Lisbon

Bio: Guilherme Figueiredo, 1996, lives and works in Lisbon. He holds a degree and a master’s degree in Fine Arts from the School of Arts and Design of Caldas da Rainha (Esad.cr). The work crosses references between the concept of play and contemporary issues related to the virtuality of video games.

 

“Sobre brincadeiras de infância” | Letícia Costelha

In a reflection on what it is to feel like a child when you are an adult, this exhibition is based on an artistic investigation into childhood play, impulses to play and ways to recover this playfulness in adult life. Following a series of interviews where we seek to know the different games of each person and their social impact, this project focuses on the valorization of the act of playing, exploring this gesture both in childhood and in adult life. Starting from the idea of playscape, I propose to bring this atmosphere of the street into the exhibition, also including the research process. Trying to reproduce in drawings, videos and sculptural pieces the games and toys described by the interviewees.

Dates: 03 October to 14 November 2024

Exhibition Place: Galeria do Sol, Porto

Bio: Letícia Costelha. 1996, Porto. Graduated in Fine Arts from FBAUP in 2019. She collaborates in non-formal education projects linked to the European Erasmus+ program and in cultural associations, such as the Quinta das Relvas Association. In recent years she has been active in participating in artistic residencies and group exhibitions.

 

Congratulations and good work!