Fitas Estudantis in Ink and a Darker Portrait of the Future
2023-03-29
Fitas Estudantis in Ink is another piece for my ongoing series, Learning Portuguese with News, where I turn what I read into drawings. This one left me a bit more pessimistic about Portugal, to be honest. I read an article about how young people here keep worrying more and more about the future, about inflation climbing, and about not finding a place to live while they study. That’s a topic for another post though. Let’s get to the ribbons.
The first time we came to Portugal, we were in Porto right during Queima das Fitas, the traditional student ribbon burning festival. We found it amazing, all those students out on the streets, proud of their courses. Reading this article now, I noticed how much has changed in just a few years, and how fast.
So the Fitas Estudantis that used to feel so colorful and full of life took on a darker shade here. It’s hard to picture the future for anyone just starting out, in university and in adult life really, carrying all these worries, living the same reality this country has been facing for years now.
Fitas Estudantis in Ink, Drawn in Black and White
Like every illustration in this series, I made this one in plain black and white ink, to give the theme the weight it deserves. I set the lettering against a dark tone, like looking up at a sky covered in ribbons, gone dark.
Link to the article link.