South circular first shows us two women, in the shadow of nondescript ruins over the Tagus river in Lisbon. Three disparate elements, then — a female pair, a structure in ruins and a river surrounding Lisbon and winding through the city’s outskirts — lay the foundation for a historical inventory of a military defence line that with time assumed a different role and another meaning. This anachronous defence wall sets a paradox before our eyes — it began as a military defence complex to keep the French from the capital during the invasions at the beginning of the nineteenth century; and now, more than a century later, it’s a territory where a by-and-large African population coming from the Portuguese ex-colonies, established their communities when they found themselves with no means to live in the prosperous, much-desired capital.
