Lined Up by the Same Wool
About Aligned by the Same Wool
The artistic residency “Aligned by the Same Wool” is an initiative of the Municipality of Loulé / Loulé Criativo that celebrates the wool of the Algarve churra sheep — the only churra breed of sheep native to southern Portugal.
With the purpose of enhancing this natural and cultural heritage, the project brought together artists and designers in a creative process that accompanied wool from shearing and washing, through spinning and felting, to the creation of unique pieces.
Throughout the residency, traditional and contemporary techniques were explored, in a dialogue between artisanal knowledge and innovation, revealing new possibilities for this unique and sustainable material.
The result of this experience is a set of works that reflect the identity, memory and territory of the Algarve, uniting tradition, creativity and sustainability.
The residency was curated by Vasco Águas and supported by Algarchurra – Association of Sheep Breeders of the Churra Algarvia Breed and Paula and Pedro Neves, responsible for the training aspect dedicated to the wool cycle and spinning.
The project culminated in an exhibition at Palácio Gama Lobo, in Loulé, where the public was able to get to know and experience the result of this connection between art, nature and community.
Aligned by the Same Wool - Video, 2025
André Matos and Vasco Águas
An audiovisual record of the shearing and the voices of two shepherds from the Algarve (José Silva and Raul Contreiras) who shared their knowledge and their relationship with the Churra Algarvia sheep.
Produced by Vasco Águas
Filmado e montado por André Matos
Duration: 14'14''
Alte, Santa Bárbara de Nexe
2025
The Marks of the Earth, 2025
Rita Martins Pereira
The series reflects multiple references to the Algarve territory: the chimneys worked in diamonds, the textures of esparto and cane, the irregularity of churra wool and its characteristic long locks. The pieces also evoke the idea of scars, associated with the marks left on the wool and the memory imprinted on the bodies of the sheep.
Each weaving mill is a material and symbolic record of the region's identity, transforming traditional elements into contemporary language.
Five panels with variable dimensions.
Algarve churra wool, orange wool thread, jute, linen, esparto and cane.
Hand weaving on a loom
Slowly, 2025
Maria Terra
Devagar is a set of two automatons and two panels that explore the time of making as a creative and poetic gesture. Through wood and Algarve churra wool — materials that require patience, listening and a relationship with the territory — the work reflects on the rhythm of the countryside, the invisible time of artisanal work and the connection between human and matter. Between Lisbon and Loulé, Devagar is a return to the land of my family — a reunion with the origins, with the gesture and with the territory —, an exercise in attention, where the act of creating becomes a form of
to care and to stay.
Madeira and wool churra from the Algarve.
The Wool Cycle, 2025
Vasco Águas
This installation shows the main phases of the
transformation of wool — from shearing to spinning — highlighting the traditional knowledge associated with the Algarve churra sheep, an indigenous breed of the Algarve.
Three pine wood exhibition frames measuring 200 x 124 x 40/50 cm.
Felted Churra Algarvia sheep fleece, Algarve churra wool in various states — natural, washed, chopped and carded —, picker, hand cards, skull and horns of Churra Algarvia sheep, clay bowls, glass jar, skeins of Churra Algarvian wool, spinning wheel, spindle.
Cocoon, 2025
Susana Mendez
This work emerges as a textile cocoon, evoking shelter, transformation and continuity. Created from the wool of the Algarve churra sheep, it values the fiber in all its stages — from the raw strand to the yarn, spun by hand. Manually woven in a honeycomb pattern, it gains volume and three-dimensional texture, referring to expanding living cells. The dark shade of the wool, rare in herds, reinforces the uniqueness of the piece and underlines the importance of its preservation.
More than a textile object, this cocoon is a symbol of memory, identity and metamorphosis, where tradition and contemporaneity are intertwined.
Approximate dimensions: 180 x ø 55 cm Wool from the Algarve churra sheep, other Portuguese wools, cane structure.
Manual weaving and felting.
Pastoral Body (Collective Work), 2025
Lined Up by the Same Wool
Like a mantle woven together, this work is born from the encounter between hands, memories and landscape. It is a creative patchwork that holds the gestures of the residence Aligned by the Same Wool, where each fragment is a testimony of listening, care and deep connection to the Churra Algarvia sheep and the territory that welcomes it. An affective cartography that is not just fabric: it is shared territory, it is a collective gesture, it is permanence.
Approximate dimensions: 250 x 100 cm.
Wool, Algarve churra wool; weaving, wet felting,
sewing, embroidery and crochet.
Shadow Topography, 2025
Rita Teles Garcia
This piece originates from the stone of the Barrocal Algarvio, a matrix that inspires shapes and rhythms. On bases of Algarve churra wool, felted and embroidered with geometric patterns that reinterpret the lines and fractures of the limestone landscape, there are copper structures, whose tone echoes the warm tones of the Barrocal. The dialogue between copper and felt generates a play of light and shadow, suggesting ephemeral projections, where mineral rigidity meets textile softness. These sculptures make visible the connection between territory, pastoral memory and contemporary artistic gesture.
Eight pieces with varying dimensions.
Copper wire, Algarve churra wool, embroidery wool from Serra da Estrela, stone from the Barrocal Algarve; sculpture,
Solid wet felting, needle felting, embroidery.
Peso e Murmur, 2025
Cláudia Moreira
The dialogue between weight and lightness was the starting point in the conceptualization of the work. What falls, ties and binds in contrast to the translucent, suspended and what floats translates into a close physical relationship between the cables and the veil panels. The composition inhabits the space. A narrative is created between the different three-dimensional elements and the light that touches them.
Approximate dimensions: 350 x 200 cm.
Algarve churra wool; solid wet felting, warping and
lanyard, needle felting, natural indigo dyeing,
embroidery and knitting.
The Cover of Churra, 2025
Ana Seromenho
The starting point is the Churra Algarvia sheep and its
wool cover. Bare neck and chest, he seems to have a cape over him. These were the triggers and the main inspiration for these three covers.
A manifesto of color, an imposition of presence.
The Churra Algarvia needs to be seen. Three covers with approximate dimensions of 160 x 70 cm each.
100% wool hand fabric; wooden buttons
carob.
Natural dyeing, weaving and sewing.
Fragmented Cartography, 2025
Luísa Leão
The piece traces an intimate and irregular map, made of threads, fragments and memories. Between the raw Algarve churra wool and pieces of an inherited family sheet, the presence of textiles emerges as a link between generations. The work reveals internal paths that are inscribed in gesture and time, where matter fragments and then recomposes itself into more expansive forms. Each layer evokes a sensitive topography of discoveries, in which the body of the work keeps traces of memory and reinvention - a fragmented cartography, but complete in its process of discovery.
Approximate dimensions: 327 x 148 x 9 cm.
Spinning, felting, sewing, embroidery and crochet in Algarve churra wool and cotton sheet.
Artists in Residence
Ana Seromenho
Cláudia Moreira
Luísa Leão
Maria Terrra
Rita Martins Pereira
Rita Teles Garcia
Susana Mendez
Educators and Mediators of Traditional Wool Know-How
Paula Neves
Pedro Neves
Technical Support and Strategic Partnership
Agarchurra – Association of Sheep Breeders of the Algarve Churra Breed
Host
Loulé Criativo
Curatorship and Architecture of the Exhibition
Vasco Águas
Coordination of the artistic residency
Marília Lúcio
Joana Afonso Dias