Manifest

Margarida Alfacinha is an Artist, Store Manager, Mother of two and a citizen who is willing to learn more about "citizenship". The origin of the project "376 Drawings" stems from a debt (an aching gut), from a problem from which there seemed no way out, and is about the solution to this very problem. Margarida has a Social Security debt and wants to use her creative work to settle it with the sale of 375 drawings. She believes that by settling this debt, besides improving her life, she will also improve the lives of those who depend on social benefits for their pensions and retirement funds. 375 drawings of 24 x 15cm will be sold for the symbolic amount of 20€ each with the objective of paying the said debt and contributing to a better society, based on greater values of fairness and community. These works of art are numbered and signed by the artist. This whole idea is based on the premise that all together and with limited resources, much can be achieved, and that with creativity, we can change the world around us. This project stands as an act of resistence to paralysis by fear, to shame, and to the increasing isolation of people when confronted with adverse situations. When the artist was faced with a very real problem, and realised she had nothing to lose she knew that the only way out was to use the resources with which she was born: the strength and courage to use her drawings to help build herself a present and a future at the service of freedom. Margarida has lived in Lisbon for 37 years now.