EXTRAI: Art and Community in Action is an art residency program in the old mining village of Lousal, situated in Grândola District, Portugal. Lousal’s history is deeply related to the mining of pyrite, the closing of the mines 1988 and the social and demographic change caused by the abrupt stop of the mining activity.
“EXTRAI” (to extract), is the action of extracting the material from the mines, but can also be seen metaphorically as the act of using the social context of Lousal mining village as the source for artistic practice. That being, the visual identity revolves around the pyrite rock as an ever moving element that triggers both the community’s memory and artistic activity.
