Photos by Joop Reijngoud
Around the Clay – Rotterdam
In 2025, ceramicist Alcides Ramos Morais, who continues the ceramic tradition passed on to him by the women in his family, travelled to Rotterdam. At Verhalenhuis Belvédère and community centre Post West, encounters took place with diasporic identities, including members of the first generation of Cape Verdeans who migrated to the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1960s.
Through collective ceramic practice, Dutch clay was shaped according to traditional forms and techniques. Throughout the process, memories were shared and reflections emerged on the tradition and its place within the Dutch context.
As hands worked the clay, the textile absorbed earth pigments, fingerprints and traces of the ceramic practice, becoming an archive of these encounters and a material record of how the ceramic tradition persists within diasporic contexts.
These encounters took place during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Cape Verde's independence and 75 years of the Cape Verdean community in the Netherlands. They were realised in collaboration with Verhalenhuis Belvédère and Stichting Bruggenbouwers, with the support of Stichting MIJ, Gerstaecker, the Ministry of Culture of Cape Verde and the Municipality of Boa Vista.