In 2019, Rio de Janeiro-based urban artist Fernando Sawaya, known artistically as Cazé, was commissioned by former Bissau-Guinean Secretary of State of Culture, António Spencer Embaló, to develop a mural homage to the revolutionary Amílcar Cabral. The artist residency was the beginning of Caminhos Urbanos (urban pathways), a project aimed at salvaging historical memory, democratising access to art and culture, and creating a sense of unity among Guineans through shared history. It was also developed as an opportunity to increase collaboration between the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) who have expressed interest in cultural exchanges through art.

Two young Bissau-Guinean artists, Young Nuno and Suley, joined Cazé in creating the first mural of the Caminhos Urbanos project. With him, they developed new techniques in urban art, skills that they would later use to continue the project across Bissau’s neighbourhoods. Urban art, says Embaló, helps to transform spaces in Bissau, adding value to them and improving the lives of its dwellers. UNESCO recognises how public spaces that reflect the history of a society fosters inclusion and development and the Barcelona Declaration on public spaces (for the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development) states: “There is a need to preserve the character and quality of existing historical public areas, in order to promote local identity and to transmit heritage to the future generations; improve existing public areas in central and peripheral parts of the city, in order to upgrade their quality and foster the sense of belonging of the communities”.

Now, there are paintings in different parts of Bissau bringing a new dynamism to combat the urban degradation of the capital and disseminating knowledge through visual culture.

The biggest challenge the artists face is in accessing the necessary material and negotiating spaces for them to paint. But Young Nuno is keen to give his contribution however he can, and he believes that the murals will help teach Bissau-Guineans, particularly the youth, that the struggle to better oneself is worth it. 

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With the support of young volunteers in the capital city, not all of whom are artists, per se, murals of the independence war began to decorate the streets of Bissau. And in the context of the pandemic, the initiative was a welcome and important opportunity for youth participation as they collaborated to create street art. Contributing to street art helps to nurture the sense of shared ownership that young people have over public urban spaces, and thus helps in preserving and growing them as cities and their populations grow.

Caminhos Urbanos, by rooting itself in the history of the liberation struggle, enhances the notion of shared space through common histories. In a country that suffers from chronic political crises, unity is not always a given and mural art can point to a common destiny. Young Nuno says that he follows the examples of independence heroes who all contributed towards the freedom of Guinea-Bissau in different ways, among them, many young people. The murals are his and Galeria Jovem’s contribution and he stresses that it is not a task that should divide the nation, but rather it is for anyone who believes themselves to be “children of this land.”

In a country with rampant political factionalism and that suffers from chronic political crises, “common destiny” is not a given notion. Young Nuno admits that they must be mindful of who they paint: “Everything is so divided here if you paint one person people will accuse you of not recognising heroes from the other side.” Figureheads like João Bernardo Vieira are contentious and therefore not so evident to represent publicly. But there was a consensus on which national heroes would be represented on each mural, and from there, Galeria Jovem was able to build on a united national memory.

In the context of weak educational infrastructure further exacerbated by the pandemic, and low rates of literacy, formal education is not always available to do the work of transmitting knowledge on “common histories.” The African Union Charter for African Cultural Renaissance says that “the unity of Africa has its foundation first and foremost in its history,” so urban art is an effective alternative to make sure history is salvaged in a medium that is accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of literacy. 

Urban art has historically been used as a medium for knowledge creation, and its open access nature helps to stimulate deliberation and reflection outside of formal institutions. In the months that the murals were being painted, liberation leaders, even those that had fallen into obscurity, became topics of public discussion again. Pansau Na Isna, for example, was not a household name despite the street named after him. He was depicted on one of Guinea-Bissau’s former currencies — this image served as the model for the mural — the peso, but when that was replaced by the CFA Franc in 1997, his memory went along with it. Twenty-four years later, Caminhos Urbanos has reconstructed it and ensured that his contributions are not erased from national memory.

But while the contributions of some are reconstructed, others have not benefited from the same recognition. Ernestina ‘Titina’ Silá, a central figure in the struggle for independence, was the second mural of the series after Amílcar Cabral. Her mural was inaugurated on the 24th of September 2020, when Guinea-Bissau celebrated 47 years since Independence, but she is so far the only woman of the liberation struggle to have been featured in the urban art project. She is also one of the few women who is recognised and celebrated at all as an important figure of the struggle, though many fought at the frontlines. 

Carmen Pereira, who contributed to the liberation effort, noted during the struggle that they were fighting two colonialisms: the first being against the Portuguese and the second, against men. At the advent of independence, the struggle against male oppression continued and the contributions of women to freedom and reconstruction were all but forgotten.

“Women have been particularly marginalized from cultural life. They face many barriers to access, contribute and participate equally in theatre, cinema, arts, music and heritage, which prevents them from developing their full potential and impedes social and inclusive sustainable development”, according to UNESCO. When public spaces do not acknowledge the contributions of women in building urban societies then self-identification, inclusion, and sense of ownership of said spaces are limited, so women’s rights to public spaces and to enjoy culture are not protected even in the ways that knowledge is created and preserved in informal locations. 

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Journalists like Ricci Shryock are actively working to reconstruct the diverse histories of the war of independence, particularly those highlighting Bissau-Guinean women. Women’s contributions to liberation and state-building are recognised on National Women’s Day, the 30th of January, the day that marks the death of Titina Silá. But beyond the symbolism of the day, Bissau-Guinean women enjoy limited freedoms in their public and private lives and are underrepresented in decision-making bodies where they could influence their relationships to shared urban spaces.

If “building a resilient Africa” that is also inclusive and empowering using heritage and culture as central tools, then the histories that are represented in public spaces must also be inclusive ones, to teach how Bissau-Guinean women have and continue to contribute to a renewed Guinea-Bissau.