Manuel Figueira: The Caboverdean Visionary Who Wove Culture into Color

By Su Duarte

Manuel Figueira stands among the most influential figures in Caboverde’s modern cultural history—a painter, weaver, teacher, and activist whose life and art became inseparable from the story of his homeland. Born in Mindelo in 1938, Figueira dedicated his career to transforming artistic creation into an act of resistance, education, and love for the Caboverdean people.

After studying Painting at the Escola Superior de Belas Artes de Lisboa from 1960 to 1974, he returned home soon after independence, bringing with him not only refined artistic skill but a renewed sense of national purpose. Figueira believed that a free Caboverde could not exist without a living, dignified culture, one that spoke the language of its own people.

In 1976, together with his wife Luísa Queirós and fellow artist Bela Duarte, he co-founded the Cooperativa Resistência—a landmark in Caboverdean cultural life. The cooperative sought to revive traditional weaving while offering a creative space where art, community, and education met. Through thread, texture, and color, they preserved ancestral knowledge and transformed it into modern artistic expression.

Between 1978 and 1989, Figueira directed the National Center for Handicrafts, where he elevated traditional art forms to national symbols of identity. His leadership and artistic practice merged craft and consciousness, proving that artistic labor could serve as a tool for social transformation.

Figueira’s paintings, known for their vibrant abstraction and rhythmic depth, reflect the essence of Caboverdean life—the rustle of the sea, the hum of daily work, and the quiet strength of memory. His works have been exhibited in Europe, the Americas, and across Africa, earning recognition for both their aesthetic innovation and their cultural depth.

Described by critics as a “multiple artist”, Figueira was not confined by medium or form. His creations wove together painting, fabric, and philosophy—each a conversation with identity and history. To him, art was not decoration but a way of remembering, of affirming that creativity is the deepest expression of freedom.

A mentor to generations of artists, Figueira’s influence extended beyond studios and galleries. He shaped cultural policy, education, and collective imagination, embodying the conviction that art belongs to the people. His work continues to inspire younger creators committed to reimagining Caboverde from within its own cultural fabric.

In October 2023, at the age of 85, Manuel Figueira passed away in Mindelo. Yet his vision remains alive—in the colors that dance on his canvases, in the hands that still weave on the looms he helped preserve, and in the enduring spirit of a nation that continues to find itself through art.

Manuel Figueira taught that to create is to remember, and to remember is to be free.