Supported by an Atlanta Beltline program, two Atlanta artists spent their summers creating work in Portugal

Portugal might be an ocean away, but, for two Atlanta artists, Europe’s westernmost country got a little closer this summer.

Joelle Ngalame, a multidisciplinary artist, and Tracy Murrell, a painter, were selected for the 2026 Atlanta Beltline X Porto ArtWorks Residency. The residency, in its second year, is a partnership between Atlanta Beltline Art (the city’s single biggest supporter of sculptural and public art), and its equivalent in Porto, Portugal, ArtWorks.

ArtWorks has a world-class artist’s studio, workshop and art fabrication factory. Its residency program — No Entulho — translates to no “debris” or “rubble.” The residencies are dedicated to emerging artists who address surplus materials from industry as a medium for creation. At No Entulho, artists, craftsmen and fabricators often work together to make large-scale public artworks. The residency exchange focuses on sculpture, fabrication, model-making and public art production. It offers mentorship and engagement with Porto’s vibrant arts scene.

“Overwhelmingly, the goal is to just provide professional development and capacity support,” said Amina Cooper, director of arts and culture at Atlanta Beltline. “We understand that artists are leaders, right? This is really about giving them the tools that they need to develop Atlanta’s creative ecosystem, and that means working with signers and engineers and fabricators.”

This year’s artists were selected from a pool that had graduated from the Beltline Business Ventures: Artists Edition Accelerator, an eight-week course about fabrication and budgeting.

“Going into this residency, I had desires to work in 3D,” said Murrell who is known for her painted canvases and large-scale collages. “I was slowly moving my practice that way, but I really didn’t have any hands-on experience other than a workshop here and there. For me to actually be in a space where they were creating work that was beyond the scale that I even imagined, and seeing them — it was life changing.”

At No Entulho, both Murrell and Ngalame were able to witness the instructors and other experienced artisans as they designed, constructed and shipped art installations from start to finish. They got hands-on experience with techniques and tools they’d never tried before.

In their downtime, they explored Porto, drank wine and enjoyed local cuisine, expanding their worldview. The experience is also designed to unlock new economic opportunities by giving artists a chance to network and engage with Porto’s arts community.

Last year, when the exchange program was in its inaugural year, the artists in residence included Atlanta’s Charity Hamidullah and Marryam Moma. Moma is currently on the cusp of finishing a new public artwork for Pittsburgh Yards, beside the Atlanta Beltline Southside Trail.

“I know those skills that [Moma] learned through this [Porto] residency helped her show up as the super artist for this project,” said Cooper. “ … We’re seeing more tangible expression of what they’ve learned on the track and overseas.”

Unfortunately, this year may be the program’s last. The residency was designed as a two-year initiative. So far, funding isn’t in place to continue the program.

The Beltline is, however, working to bring a little Portugal to Atlanta. A few of the ArtWorks Porto staff who were instrumental in making the residency a success will attend Atlanta Art Fair in October, including ArtWorks’ Director José Miguel Pinto and Art Coordinator Francisca Barros. 

“It’s certainly an exchange of culture,” said Cooper. “… I do believe they’ll be sharing some of the works that they created, as well as some of the artworks that were created during this residency and previous residencies.”

Ngalame is leaving some of her work in Porto. A Husband’s Love was inspired by a romantic gesture. A worker at the window factory that owns ArtWorks crafted his wife Yuma a bright green flower made of more than 50 strips of clear green tape and affixed the flower to a concrete column at the factory. The flower was re-created and featured in an ArtWorks newspaper, and Ngalame decided she would reimagine it in iron.

“Once I saw the second flower in the newspaper … I decided I’m going to make it in iron, polish it to a full silver finish and re-create my own version of it,” she said. “Because it’s large-scale, I couldn’t take it with me. So I asked Bruno — a now dear friend and the owner of the apartment building where I stayed during my six weeks in Portugal — to add it to the collection of beautiful artwork he already had displayed throughout every suite. He said yes.”

Now Ngalame’s work lives in Porto, waiting to be discovered by anyone who walks through Bruno’s door.

“Porto,” Ngalame said, “[has] expanded how I communicate with art.”

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Jeff Dingler is an Atlanta-based author and entertainer. A graduate of Skidmore College with an MFA in creative writing from Hollins University, he’s written for New York magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Tiny Love, Newsweek, WIRED, Salmagundi and Flash Fiction Magazine. More information at jeffdingler.org.