S N / O I T N O / N O C N A O L L E T O S I N T O C AS N / O I T N O / C N A O L L E T S T N O C A L L S E N TIO / A ON LL res
A
nha i L a n
/ / /
l a v i h c r a n i h t i w s g n i n r a e l n u
/Atlas /Transhistorical /Queering the Archive /Erasure & Narratives /Decolonization /Unlearning
I’ve been undergoing a research project titled ‘On Constellations’ for the past 3 years. The work has been developing into different phases, according to my research and practice exercises as well as performances. At the beginning of the project, my work focused on a collection of objects owned by diplomat family members who worked and traveled in Portuguese former colonies. These items were acquired, used and collected through the years until their context and history become blurred. I approached these objects and archival material, as well as, familly narratives and deconstructed them in a search of alternative readings/interpretations and power relations. My work practice goes through a set of methodologies and experimental approaches to collections and archives reconsidering narratives and positions in history and learning institutions dominated by a Western hegemonic legacy. As a Portuguese person, I grew up in a very problematic colonial country where the culture, language and narratives celebrate the hegemonic past. Within the first two years, there was a focus on researching archival practices and erasure within an Imperialist background, but as the research and methods evolved, I brought up different questions to the table, such as what do these objects can tell, other than the repeated colonial family stories. Were these objects bought from local artisans in colonies or in a more complex market system to please the occidental customers’ taste of ‘exotic’ cultures? In which circumstances are these objects and images related? What do they mean in a family context or in a broader context? And when do these things become a collection?
How to unlearn these hegemonic behaviors within cultural and learning institutions?
Collective unlearning experience Deconstructing narratives and power relations
Astrology
Transhistoricity Narratives & power
used for divination and archived as a record of state affairs
Erasure & Gaps Unforgetting
Decolonizing knowledge Unlearning hegemonies
reading signs and meanings in things and their shapes
Anti-Colonial Representation
/oracle bone - Shang dinasty
reading figures and narratives Story-telling and divination
\what about speaking through fakes? or replicas?
symbols
how to read signs in the smoke or the liver of a sheep?
reading objects intuitively and establishing connections and meanings
Western domin representation s
How to deal with an oppressive past?
Time Anachronisms Temporality
Politics
Archive
what fits in an archive? and what is allowed to be forgotten?
physical archives
On Constellations Atlas montage
nance on systems
catalogation structures & tecnhiques
digital archives Digital archives are possible to awake and re-perform
Methodology Thinking through diagrams and montage
Research installations
Lecture-performance
mediation & translations
Research
How to challenge hegemonic language and heritage? Challenge narratives and representation
Decolonize the sites, the narratives, the textbooks, the monuments
Performative research \ know as practice \researching practice \ practicing learning
\ know to practice \ practice to know
Decolonizing identity and collective memory
Recently, I’ve been interested in taking my research further and consider the place of Queer representations and erasure within archival practices connected to an Imperialist learning legacy. How can decolonizing learning methods and practices challenge the hetero-normative and patriarchal rules established by Western Imperialism? My research and practice approach archives, decolonization and storytelling and how representation and erasure have their place in communal learning and knowledge production. I’m interested in the political dimension and discussions surrounding movements that challenge structural racism and hegemonic practices. My artistic practice has been focused on the approach to archives in order to unfold its potential and problematics inherent to its imperialist beginnings and settings. I’m interested in the political context within collections and curatorial practices and how to unlearn this heritage. I’m very interested in the decolonizing practices within cultural, learning and historical institutions and the political role art can have to bring these discussions about.
