Africa-Press – Angola. The avenues and streets of the city of Cuito, province of Bié, have begun to gain, in recent days, a new color that awakens hundreds of motorists and pedestrians, as a result of the works of art “encrusted” in the main buildings.
These are works produced by local young people, with graffiti that appeals to ethics and morals, as part of the celebrations of the 91st anniversary of the rise of the capital of the province of Cuito to the status of city, which will be marked on 31 August.
Tuesday, the coordinator of plastic artists in Bié, Joaquim Miguel Vitangui, said it was an initiative of the Administration of the municipality of Cuito, which involves 20 artists, including designers and painters. .
He added that the contract will cover all the walls of public institutions, where images can be placed that illustrate all the monuments and sites of this province, considered National Historic Heritage.
These are the Geodesic Center of Angola (Camacupa), Capolo Prison, the Catholic Mission of Chanhora (Cuito), the Evangelical Mission of Chissamba (Catabola), Embala Tchitembo Tchalaza and the Catholic Mission of Michenje (Chitembo).
In total, the province of Bié has 169 monuments and sites, most of which are degraded.
In 2022, the IECA Evangelical Mouse Mission” and the Cuito Monument Cemetery were elevated to National Historical-Cultural Heritage, which join the buildings of the Post Office, Barracks of Dragons (4th Division of the Angolan Armed Forces), Embala Ekovongo (Cuito ) and the evangelical missions of Chilesso and Catholic of Chicumbi, in the municipality of Andulo.
Therefore, the official said that the project will also illustrate drawings that appeal against domestic violence, vandalism of public property, road accidents and encourage the fight against drugs.
Meanwhile, the painter requested the creation of a gallery in this region, for the exhibition of works of art, with the aim of bringing greater appreciation and recognition to the work of local artists.
He referred that Bié already urgently needs a space for exhibitions, judging by the number of citizens who have gained a taste for the visual arts, since, at this moment, each artist, individually, exhibits his works on the walls, sometimes even on the floor.
This reality, according to Quim Vitangui, detracts from the due importance of paintings painted on canvas, as well as devaluing the creativity of painters.
Currently, the province controls 35 plastic artists.
Brief historical summary of the city of Cuito
The story goes that the district of Bié was founded in 1922, in the 18th century, by Vié, an elephant hunter of Umbi origin, who after settling in the region of Belmonte became the sovereign of the region.
Vié later came to be called Vila de Silva Porto, currently the city of Cuito.
Vila de Silva Porto, according to written sources, was elevated to the category of city by legislative diploma nr. Angola.
With an extension of four thousand 814 square kilometres, the municipality of Cuito, one of the nine that make up the province of Bié, located in the Central Plateau of Angola, 82 kilometers from the Geodesic Center of the country, Camacupa, has an estimated population of more than 800 thousand inhabitants, spread over Cambundua, Chicala, Cunje, Trumba and Sede communes.
The city of Cuito is inhabited by several ethnolinguistic groups, the majority being Ovimbundu and others in smaller numbers such as the Ovinganguelas, Tchokwe and Songos.
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