RAW Material Company presented the work of Janilda Bartolomeu, in collaboration with the Nieuwe Instituut. In the heart of the Médina district, the evening public program took place at the iconic Cinéma Empire. The screening of a series of short films, including the most recent one made in Dakar, was followed by a conversation between the artist and her guests Ramon Amaro and Zineb Seghrouchni.

The films screened were evocations & lamentations (2016), agua’d chor, agua’dmar (2018) and the very first draft of Bartolomeu’s new film titled islands traced, cities forseen (2024). This film follows the creation and evolution of the proverbial and spectral 11th island of the Cape Verdean diapora. An island which finds itself interwoven with the city of Rotterdam. The film aims to make a triangular connection between the Cape Verdean islands, Rotterdam, and Dakar (as a speculative 12th island). A film about the manners in which cities can have a multi-tude of incospicuous lives as well as deaths, due to their colonial histories.

Janilda’s initial research led her to trace the little-documented history of the Cape Verdean diaspora, prompting her to further explore silent narratives. Janilda Bartolomeu’s collaboration with RAW Material Company, which will be deepened during a research residency in 2025, delves into the issue of the transmission of community identity and the sense of belonging beyond borders. In the Senegalese context, a host country for Cape Verdeans, she draws from the echoes of families, their history, and their evolution.