Art in Guinea-Bissau

In Guinea-Bissau, art and culture are referred to in Portuguese, among other terms, as artes plásticas e visuais, artes performativas e cénicas, literatura, música and políticas públicas culturais. Guinea-Bissau Creole (Kriol) and Portuguese forms of expression coexist. A community-group cultural and artistic practice (Mandjuandadi) often combines singing, music, dance and social occasions. Music is especially important in everyday life and at rituals, initiations, weddings, births and funerals. Gumbé is considered a central national popular and export form; it is also spelled Gumbe. The rhythms recorded in the 2024–2025 UNESCO inventory include Tina, Broksa, Cunderé, Cansaré, Mtchacra and Djambadon. The inventory was produced with a budget of 20,000 US dollars; its portal shows conflicting status information between “On Going” and 100 percent. Its completion status therefore cannot be determined conclusively. Performing arts often arise in community, ritual or project-based settings. From 2022 to 2025, a cultural project (Ur-GENTE) in Bissau provided a total of 1,409 hours of training, reached 768 participants and presented 42 performances to approximately 5,000 spectators. Two DJINTIS festivals were also held. An expansion of training, production and cultural management is planned for 2025 to 2027. Depending on the offer, access is through calls for applications or registration; published participation fees are not available. Visual arts include painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, video and photography. Nú Barreto is an internationally represented artist and photographer born in Guinea-Bissau. The MoAC Biss Biennial Foundation (Fundação Bienal MoAC Biss) organized its first biennial from 1 to 31 May 2025, featuring plastic and visual arts, photography, workshops and IN and OFF exhibitions. 15 to 20 international and African artists were planned for 2025. A reliable nationwide gallery, collection or pricing structure has not been established. Literature appears in Portuguese and Kriol and also draws on oral traditions. The library and national archive of the National Institute for Studies and Research (Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisa, INEP) perform central functions in Bissau relating to preservation, knowledge and access to texts. The Association of Writers of Guinea-Bissau has existed since 2013. Known authors include Marcelino Marques de Barros, Vasco Cabral, Tony Tcheka, José Carlos Schwarz, Hélder Proença, Francisco Conduto de Pina and Odete Semedo. Formal publishing and reading-market data are available only to a limited extent. In 2024, Odete Semedo received the Guerra-Junqueiro Prize for Lusophony. Film production remains small and mostly project-based. Documented filmmakers include Flora Gomes, Sana Na N’Hada, Vanessa Fernandes, Filipe Henriques and Welket Bungué. The Instituto Nacional de Cinema e Audiovisual, formerly INC and later INCA, and the Association of Filmmakers of Guinea-Bissau, ACINEGUI, are historical points of reference. The INC was founded in 1978 and closed in the 1980s; the INCA was re-established in 2003 and held a national film symposium in 2004. ACINEGUI was established in 2006; approximately 20 filmmakers are documented historically. The CINE LUEMA cinema existed until the early 2000s, after which screenings mainly took place in cultural centers. A stable national film-festival structure has not been established. Funding often comes from Portugal, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, EU-ACP programs and the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP). Local training and regular distribution remain limited, and broad digital film use was barely documented in 2019. Architecture and design are reflected, among other things, in regional building forms. These include clay and adobe buildings, houses with thatched roofs and a local building type (Nanku). New buildings can also incorporate cultural forms and local patterns of use. The Portuguese Cultural Center in Bissau is a documented architecture project with links to art and inclusion. A nationwide design association, a reliably documented training pathway and robust market and price data for design have not been established. Digital art has no documented national institution or independent market. Video, photography, multimedia and moving images often overlap with visual arts and film; because internet and video-on-demand use was poorly documented in 2019, their current reach is difficult to assess. Documented institutions and funding structures include INEP, the Fundação José Carlos Schwarz, the biennial foundation and the cultural project. The Fundação José Carlos Schwarz is a private nonprofit cultural foundation for music, theater, film, literature and visual arts. The biennial foundation has operated on a nonprofit basis in art, research and training since 2023. Its biennial includes performing and moving-image works, plastic and visual arts, literature, music and cultural policy. Approximately 80 percent of the events planned for the 2025 biennial were free of charge. Catalog sales, private collections and exhibitions involving the diaspora and international partners also exist. A reliable national system of art markets, fees, tickets or funding has not been verified. People who create, teach or perform art usually gain access through informal learning, communities, rituals, cultural centers, open calls, project-based programs and international cooperation. Some formal opportunities are available through INEP, the cultural project and the biennial foundation. Scholarships, co-productions and networks in Portugal, Portuguese-speaking countries and the diaspora can facilitate transitions, but they do not guarantee access. A general national vocational training system for the arts has not been established. Costs and dates depend mainly on the project, organizer, call for applications or partnership. Copyright is based on the 1972 copyright decree-law (Decree-Law 46.980). WIPO Lex lists this legal framework for copyright and related rights; according to UNESCO mapping, implementation is incomplete, and a functioning collecting society has not been established. Before publication, performance, sale or adaptation, artists should therefore clarify authorship, usage rights, attribution, permissions and remuneration in writing. According to the UNESCO country page, Guinea-Bissau ratified the 2003 UNESCO Convention on intangible cultural heritage on 7 March 2016; a UN report gives the divergent year 2005. This discrepancy should be expressly taken into account in legal or institutional statements. UNESCO projects focus on safeguarding living traditions. Guinea-Bissau’s inclusion in the relevant UNESCO lists could not be verified.