Rua da Ericeira 14/10/2013

Cátia Guimarães

Text: Hugo Rocha Pereira | Translator: João Diogo Rocha Pereira

Cátia Guimarães (32 years-old)

What do you do for a living?

Currently, I work in a gallery that sells graphic works and I provide meetings – I have a training as an art therapist/psychotherapist, by the Portuguese Art Therapy Society.

What is your artistic work about and where are we able to find it?

I studied Painting in the Lisbon Faculty of Fine Arts and during the degree I started working with the third-dimensional space. I work from the objects that I find in various places (fairs, scrapyards – one of my favorite places –, flea markets, old houses, attics of relatives) as well as objects that are lost in the middle of the street. They are, in most of the cases, objects related to the memories, to childhood, to love ties, to losses and to reunions. I reinterpret them, transform them and provide them with new meanings. I hope that those who find them are able to grant them new emotions and connections.

Since when do you know Ericeira and what kind of relationship do you hold with the village?

I’ve known Ericeira since I was a little girl. Everytime I came on holidays to the mainland with my parents, brothers and grandparents, we would come to Ericeira for a walk. Interestingly enough, a few years ago I displayed my works in the Jaime Lobo e Silva House of Culture, at the invitation of a Fine Arts colleague. Afterwards I had a relationship with someone from here and I developed some lasting ties with some of Ericeira’s people.

What do you like the most about Ericeira?

I like the way it reminds me of the meaning of “home”, my origins in Angra do Heroísmo (Azores). Maybe it’s due to the constant presence of the sea.

Do you find any common ground between your hometown and Ericeira?

Yes, the low white houses decorated with coloured stripes – here they’re blue, and over there we have them in a diversity of colours; the narrow streets made of cobblestone, which always lead us into the sea; the ever-present “blue giant”. Regarding the people, I find a certain joy and festivity that is common between the folks from here and Angra do Heroísmo.

Do you have any favourite garments, accessories or adornments?

It depends…I went through an earrings phase, then a rings period; now I’m into hair accessories. Regarding to clothing I’m into dresses and cotton tanktop t-shirts, perhaps due to the good weather that has been around. Today, as it’s cooler, I chose these overalls and this jacket.