Farpões Baldios

In this allegorical portrayal of rural life in the Alentejo, Marta Mateus evokes the struggles of agricultural workers who, after generations of poverty and deprivation, see the April Revolution and the Agrarian Reform as an opportunity for change. In the Alentejo countryside, the occupation of large agricultural estates reshapes power and labour relations, and the landscape takes centre stage. The figure of Saint Lucy, invoked in prayers to help people ‘see better’, bridges religiosity and political consciousness in a region steeped in notions of resistance and collective memory.