Urban art and cultural commodification in postcolonial Lisbon

Abstract

This essay’s main concern is urban art and postcolonial identitary configurations in Portugal. Focusing on several artistic and cultural productions arising from the “peripheral” spaces of Cova da Moura and Quinta do Mocho in Lisbon (two spaces which are marked by the presence of populations of African origin), it examines how urban creativity is challenging straightforward and unproblematic understanding of the country’s relation with its colonial past. Associated with violence and marginality in the Portuguese imagination, both racialized neighborhoods are nowadays active contexts of cultural production and are particularly fertile in terms of urban art and music. Nowadays, they are integrated into the cultural circuits of Lisbon, a city that has become a top international cultural and touristic referent. This article’s central objective is analysis of the contradictions brought about by this process.