Djamila Fortes

Djamila Fortes paints cities after dark, when rain turns the streets into mirrors. Born in Lisbon to a family from Mindelo, she grew up between two harbours and still paints like someone looking for the way home.

She works fast with a palette knife, laying colour on in thick ridges that catch the light: violet, tangerine, a sudden cobalt. Up close her canvases are almost abstract. Step back, and the lamps come on.