"This award embodies the core spirit of IIM, enshrined in its vocations and statutory purposes, and contemplates those individual and collective personalities who, in the fields of Culture in general, in the Arts, in Thought, in Anthropology, in Legal Sciences and in Education and Teaching, will contribute significantly to the substantiation of the factors of the identity of Macao. "
They are undoubtedly two great talents from Macao and two notable success stories, such as inspired creators, consummate artists and respected professionals, with work of recognized quality and both, with significant projection abroad, prescribing Macao, his native land, and -borders. In addition, they have already worked together on relevant cultural projects which fit perfectly into the spirit of the award they have now been given.
In a very intense week last May, which included conferences, Macao serials and new editions, and when the International Institute of Macao (IIM) also held its general assembly for consideration and approval of the annual report and the new lines of action and its program of activities, the jury of the Identity Award, constituted by the universal body of the members of its governing bodies, was also called to give its opinion on the proposals submitted to it. In a total of six options considered, the jury decided to grant "ex-aequo" the said Award, created in 2002, to the brothers Carlos Alberto and Victor Hugo dos Santos Marreiros, and it should be formally delivered during the next Macanese Communities Encontro, marked for the last week of November of this year, in a cultural session organized by IIM and integrated in the diversified program of the Encontro.
Short curricular notes
Carlos Alberto dos Santos Marreiros is an architect, town planner, artist and cultural manager, with higher education obtained in Macao, Portugal, Germany and Sweden. In addition to being a highly regarded architect with over two hundred works designed by him in Macao, Hong Kong, China, Portugal and Australia, and as a university lecturer and speaker at important international conferences, he held positions in public and civil society organizations, including (1989-1992), artistic director and deputy director of the Culture Magazine of the same Institute, founder and president of the Macao Friends of Culture, chairman of the Macao Architects Association, vice president of the Macao Cultural Institute Arcasia - Architects Regional Council of Asia and member of the Electoral Commission for the Election of the Chief Executive of the MSAR.
He currently presides at the SCM Albergue, an active creative industries center. He is also a curator of the Macau Foundation, a member of the Cultural Advisory Council, the Environment Council and the Creative Industries Council of the Macau SAR and honorary president of the Engineering and Construction Association of Macau. As a plastic artist, he has performed more than two dozen solo exhibitions and has participated in over fifty collectives in various parts of the world, having been the artist chosen to represent Macau at the 55th Venice International Art Exhibition in 2013. Also poetry and essay, with several works and numerous essays published.
Victor Hugo dos Santos Marreiros is considered one of the best designers of this geographical area, having become famous in the field of graphic design and as an artist, with works of great merit, many of which reflect the cultural identity of Macao, which contributed to greatly enhance.
He was Artistic Director of the Cultural Institute of Macao, as well as the Culture Magazine of the same Institute and TDM - Teledifusão de Macau, as well as founder of the Circle of Friends of Culture, MARR Design and Victor Hugo Design and member of the Design Association of Macau. He has participated in exhibitions and cultural events held in Macao, Portugal, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brazil, Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, United States of America, South Korea, Finland, Philippines and the Czech Republic, having exemplified the dignity and designation of Macao in all these countries and territories.
Previous awards
It was at the meeting of the IIM General Assembly in 2002 that the creation of the "Identity Award" was approved, establishing as its purpose the distinction between entities that "by their action, work and example, contribute, actively and significantly, to the identity of Macao. " The first distinguished personality, the following year, was Monsignor Manuel Teixeira, priest and historian and one of the most important figures of the Macanese cultural universe, who finally left our conviviality at the age of 91, a few months before the date chosen for the you to be delivered.
They followed the writer, professor and lawyer Henrique de Senna Fernandes (2004); Commander Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales (2005), distinguished public figure of Hong Kong and leader of the Portuguese community in the former British colony; the Prof. Luís de Guimarães Lobato (2006, ex-aequo), vice-president of the Lisbon City Council, administrator of the Gulbenkian Foundation, founder of the Casa de Macau in Portugal and first president of the Casa de Macau Foundation; the University of Macau (2006, "ex-aequo"); the Macao Promoting Instruction Association (APIM) (2007); the Diocese of Macao (2008); the Holy House of Mercy of Macao (2009); the American Macanese Union (2010), in its fiftieth anniversary; two electronic projects entitled "Macanese Families" and "Projeto Memória Macaense" (2011, "ex-aequo"), created in Australia and Brazil; the Lusitanian Club of Hong Kong (2012), prestigious cultural and social association of Portuguese from the East; the theater group "Dóci Papiaçam di Macau" (2013), which has contributed to preserve and enhance the old Portuguese Creole of Macao; the Portuguese School of Macau (2014), a fundamental establishment for the maintenance of the teaching of the Portuguese language and a teaching system with Portuguese as a vehicular language; the Kindergarten D. José da Costa Nunes (2015), which has been providing basic education for generations of children in Macao and articulating with the Portuguese School access to basic education in Portuguese; the Macau House in Portugal or Casa de Macau em Portugal (2016), on the occasion of the commemoration of its 50th anniversary; the Prof. Henrique d'Assumpção (2017), Macanese university professor residing in Australia and coordinator of the project "Macanese Families"; Frederic (Jim) Silva and Arch. António Manuel Pacheco Jorge da Silva, persistent and consequent preservers of the Macanese memory in the United States (2018, "ex-aequo").
A book about the Award
In November 2016, the IIM published a book that integrated its "Mosaico" collection, gathering all the essential information about the Identity Award, including its regulation, a brief history and biographical notes on each one of the individualities and institutions contemplated . The title is Valorizar a Identidade - Entidades distinguidas com o Prémio Identidade (Valuing Identity - Entities Distinguished with the Identity Award) and its author Alexandra Sofia Rangel, academic researcher and collaborator of IIM, who also edited her book "Filhos da Terra: A Comunidade Macaense, Ontem e Hoje", based on the master's thesis that presented and defended, with a high classification, in the Faculdade das Letras of the University of Lisbon.
* President of the International Institute of Macao - Jornal Tribuna de Macau, on 24.06.2019