Fisherman

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In 2016 Frederico Draw painted a fisherman on a wall in Lagos — a large-scale portrait in the realism that is his signature, all weathered skin and steady gaze. It is a tribute to the men who worked this coast, and one of the pieces that has made Lagos a reference for urban art in Portugal.

You will find it at number 3 of Rua do Jogo da Bola, in the cobbled lanes of the old town — a side street rather than a main one, so most people come upon the portrait while walking the historic centre rather than setting out to find it.

The mural exists because of ARTURb, a project run since 2011 by LAC, the Laboratório de Actividades Criativas, housed in the old Lagos prison. Each year it brings urban artists to town for a residency: they exhibit at LAC and paint in the streets, and the accumulated result is that Lagos now holds one of the densest concentrations of mural work in the Algarve, with guided tours and a catalogue to match.

Frederico Draw — Frederico Soares Campos, from Freamunde in the north of the country — is known throughout Portugal for large black-and-white portraits whose gaze holds you from across a street. He works in public space and for galleries alike, and has since formed the duo RUÍDO with the artist Alma; in 2024 the two returned to Lagos to paint a mural marking fifty years of the 25 de Abril, one of fourteen commissioned across the country by Turismo de Portugal.

Not every mural painted in Lagos since 2011 has survived. Some have faded, others went with the buildings that carried them. This one is still here.

Draw | 2016