At ARCOlisboa 2025, WAAU – World African Artists United had the honour of interviewing the award-winning architect and curator Paula Nascimento, member of the WAAU Association, and co-curator of the fair’s section “The Shapes of the Ocean”, together with curator Igor Simões.

In this conversation, Nascimento expands on the conceptual and methodological foundations of ‘The Shapes of the Ocean’, a section that convenes galleries representing artists from the African continent and its multiple diasporas. Anchored in the ocean as both metaphor and epistemological framework, the section interrogates histories of forced and voluntary displacement, colonial violence, and the enduring legacies of the transoceanic circulation of bodies, cultures, and knowledge systems. At the same time, it foregrounds the ocean as a space of recomposition, creative resilience, and relationality.

Nascimento underscores the significance of the intertextual and trans geographic dialogues made possible through this curatorial programme.

We are deeply grateful for her insight, presence, and participation in our talk on the same day.

📍Cordoaria Nacional, Avenida da Índia, 1300-342 Lisbon, Portugal.