Even with the exit of many Parisians looking for hotter summer breaks, August in Paris is not only animated by the beaches on the banks of the Seine, but also by an audience that after several months of closing was finally able to return to museums and cultural spaces in the capital.

To receive them, there are Portuguese-speaking artists with various manifestations. At Fluctuart, a boat on the Seine, next to the Invalides, you will find the exhibition "TRACE", a monograph by Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, known as Vhils. Opened in the summer of 2019 and being the only boat in the world dedicated to showing ‘street art’, the artistic direction of Fluctuart chose the Portuguese artist for the moment of reopening after several months of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic in France.

"It's an artist I know and that I collect. He's very young, but he's a star of 'street art'. He's an artist who is in the top 10 of this art movement. He came with his team to install the exhibition here and he liked the place a lot," said Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, co-founder of the space and artistic director of Fluctuart, in statements to Lusa agency.

Portuguese street artist Vhils

With a space of 1,000 square meters on a boat that cost around 4.5 million euros, Fluctuart is a museum, with free visits and where until October 3rd Parisians can see the various phases of Vhils' work, but also there is a trendy 'rooftop' with bar and restaurant. "Our challenge is that anyone who comes for dinner or a drink will also visit the exhibition and we have a real reception of work, making free guided tours", explained Lasserre.

On the terrace of this boat, you can also see the exhibition "Les Amazones", curated by the Brazilian Agathae Montecinos, where seven women, including two Brazilians, Drika Chagas and Sayonara Pinehiro, exhibit their works of ‘street art’. At the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, African women are highlighted with the exhibition "The Power of My Hands", as part of the Africa 2020 season in France, which should have taken place last year but was postponed due to the pandemic. The exhibition brings together works by 16 African women, including Angolan Ana Silva and Mozambican Reinata Sadimba, and wants to give voice to these artists. "There is a set of curatorial ideas and by giving voice to these artists we also tried to join our voice as curators. We believe that the pieces speak for themselves, they don't need translation, but joining our voices only reinforces that", explained Suzana Sousa, curator of the exhibition.

This Angolan researcher considers that in world history "women in general have not been the focus", the same happening with African artists. Through ceramics, video installations or fabric manipulation, accompanied by testimonies from each artist, the exhibition is a journey through the continent's contemporary art and runs until 22 August.

At the Museum of Music, the exhibition "Salgado Amazônia" proposes a tour through the photographs of the renowned Brazilian photographer that shows the Amazon, accompanied by music created especially by the composer Jean-Michel Jarre. During the exhibition, the visitor also meets more than a dozen Amazon indigenous peoples, with whom the photographer spent some time on his travels to this part of the globe that has yet to be fully explored. Sebastião Salgado's exhibition is open until 31 October.