Feijão Lava 

2020 - Ongoing

As Ken Albala argues in his book Beans, A History, “due to its ubiquity, beans are one of the few foods that serve as a unit of analysis and comparison across time and space” and that “[beans] are among the few foods that have been crossed and transplanted so avidly across continents throughout history that today few people, with the exception of botanists, manage to put all the species on their feet”.

Through the study of the bean plant - how it fits into this very specific geography and microclimate, the way it is treated, cherished and maintained - will it be possible to analyze and compare other aspects of this “time and space”, as suggested by Ken Albala?  Can the beans in Chã das Caldeiras, represent, in allegorical way, the way people live, build and relate in this community? Is it then possible to assume that these two elements - community and beans - are somehow interconnected and should therefore require a deeper look?


Chã das Caldeiras, Ilha do Fogo, Cabo Verde
+ Research Project