Author: Aleksandra Stokowiec

Food, Kittens, and Cuteness: Q & A with Abacaxi Lab
November 30, 2018
The duo behind Abacaxi Lab are two fabulous ladies: Aleksandra “Laura” Schedler and Vanda Aragão. As brave and colorful as their art, they talked with Atlas just before the opening of their first exhibition, sharing stories about their travels, inspirations, and hopes for the future. Let’s start at the beginning. What’s the origin story of […]

The Mischievous Storyteller: Paula Rego
October 23, 2018
In a well-lit room, a man sits on the edge of a bed. Around him, two women — daughter and wife — struggle to pull a jacket over his inert body. By a window, another child stands, with hands folded as if for prayer and her gaze fixed somewhere outside the canvas. In the background, […]

Flowers are her best lovers: Q&A with Weronika Anna Rosa
September 19, 2018
Polish artist Weronika Anna Rosa came to Lisbon and fell in love at first sight. When she moved here for good, the city’s light and colors — and the country’s azulejos — would shape her paintings as well. Atlas sat down for a chat.

The Silent Lady: Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
September 11, 2018
When rebuked about not talking enough about her work, the modernist painter Vieira da Silva once retorted: “And what does one paint for? Isn’t it to make the canvas speak? The painter’s language is the paintings themselves!”

The Eccentric Englishwoman: Guilhermina Suggia
September 4, 2018
In her hometown, Porto, the cellist Guilhermina Augusta Xavier de Medin Suggia was affectionately known as “the eccentric Englishwoman.” This nickname, earned by someone who was, in fact, flesh-and-blood Portuguese, reflects the extent Suggia was ahead of her times — as a cellist and as a woman.

Domenico Vandelli, the Luckless Founder of Jardim Botânico da Ajuda
August 16, 2018
The founder of Jardim Botânico da Ajuda may not be well known, but his influence over the project was immeasurable, and his bad luck a lesson to us all.