BUILDING ANGOLA THROUGH ART MARKED BY ITS RECENT POLITICAL HISTORY

Recently obtaining the title of third largest economy in sub–Saharan Africa, oil-rich Angola in Southern Africa boasts a very young and spirited art-scene. Winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale 2013 when it participated for the first time under the curatorship of Paula Nascimento and artist Edson Chagas, it surely has been growing a lot of internationally acclaimed artists since. It’s of no surprise, following the ministry of culture’s recent priority to strengthen

Angolan culture as a nation-building tool following decades of civil war until 2002.

At the forefront of the Angolan artscene is undeniably Antonio Ole who curated Angola’s Pavilion in the 56th and 57th Venice Biennale as both artist and curator; main curator at the 2015 56th edition and as artist for the 2017 57th edition with the title ‘Magnetic Memory/ Historical Resonance’. Angolan art is fast becoming an integral part of the global art-scene with galleries opening and a new generation of artists appearing, feeling more respected globally than it has ever felt before. It is during these times that galleries were being founded in Luanda. Although the Tamar Golan gallery launched in 2012, more contemporary art galleries started to launch around the city, starting from Espaco Luanada Arte (which now also hosts the Angola AIR residency program) and Movart in 2015, to This is Not a White Cube in 2016 and the Jahmek Contemporary Art in 2018.

The independent and very important art foundation Nesr Art Foundation and residency programme was born in 2021, providing a ‘space for artistic research, production, and critical discourse through its residencies, collection, and educational projects, centred around a creative hub located in Luanda, Angola.’ This came at a time following the demise of the Sindika Dpkolo Foundation, which was founded by the late Sindika Dokolo and his wife Isabel dos Santos, daughter of Angola’s former president, who was found guilty of money laundering and corruption at the expense of the Angolan state in 2020. Before 2020, this was the only place artists looked up to for funding as there was always little infrastructure for artists in Angola, leaving many artists searching for opportunities outside the country. The artistic committee at the NESR Foundation is chaired by very important names in the African art world. They are Paula Nascimento and Fernanda Brenner, Tandazani Dhlakama and Azu Nwagbogu.

CHRISTINE XUEREB SEIDU founded Christine X Art Gallery in 2004 after a university degree in Art History and Anthropology. She has returned to Malta after a year in Ghana where she explored African art and culture.

Angolan history, social aspects of Angola, urban archaeology and architecture, repurposing objects as well as afro-surrealism are among the top subjects visualised by Angolan artists. Angolan history is dominant in Adriano Cangombe’s work in context of the civil war whilst Kiluanji Kia Hendra studies it in the context of how it was impacted by colonialism and new identities, Helena Uambembe studying it in context of history and place and Sandra Poulson studying the relationship its history has with oral tradition and global political structures. When it comes to Angolan society in art, we note the work of Osvaldo Ferreira in the context of intergenerational continuity and discontinuity with regards to social experiences and Binelde Hyrcan’s critiquing structures of power and human vanity. Elyina Gaspar captures human rights and social protests through her photographic work whilst multi-disciplinary artist Pamina

Sebastiao takes on gender and sexuality. Alice Marcelino and Fidel Evora’s works focus on identity.

Urban archaeology and effective geologies is the interest of filmmaker, artist and researcher Mónica de Miranda whilst street photographer Rui Magalhães and multidisciplinary artist Ihosvanny are more interested in architectural history. Toy Boy and Yonamine’s work focuses on urbanization and pop culture. Some artists also seem to work on objects when seen in different contexts. Kiluanji Kia Henda’s work focuses on identities past and future like when he repurposes plinths, Delio Jasse uses found images with clues from past lives and Tiago Borges tales away objects and images from their original contexts, grouping them in ways that provoke. Known to be ‘one of the most exciting artists of his generation’, Nastio Mosquito’s work is about the dynamics between feeling, knowing, acting and being- engaging with reality at all levels.

We’re looking forward to seeing what these art galleries and artists will be up to in 2023, in Luanda and beyond. Make sure to follow these artists and galleries to get to know the latest from these artists.

Spotlight / Events / Global

March - May 2023

Exhibitions

A selection of art events from around the world

11.02.23

Until 30 July 2023

ULYSSES JENKINS: WITHOUT YOUR INTERPRETATION

The Julia Stoschek Foundation presents the European premiere of Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation, the first major retrospective of the work of groundbreaking video and performance artist Ulysses Jenkins. Organised closely with the artist - including the digitization of a sprawling archive and conversations with Ulysses Jenkins and his collaborators - the exhibition encompasses a broad range of over fifteen videos and almost sixty works in total that showcase his collaborations, mural paintings, photography, and performances, revealing the scope of Jenkins’s practice. Among the many video works of the exhibition is Mass of Images (1978), an innovative video art piece that critiques the media’s role in perpetuating racist and harmful images of the African diaspora in the United States. Like other works in the exhibition, it is grounded in issues that remain at the heart of contemporary conversations about inequality and environmental devastation amplified by unchecked capitalism, governmental oppression, and the impact of systemic racism on Black cultural production.

Julia Stoschek Collection, Leipziger Strasse 60, Berlin Ulysses Jenkins, Without Your Interpretation rehearsal documentation, 1984

22.02.23

Until 7 May 2023

MIKE NELSON: EXTINCTION

03.23-05.23

Beckons

The first major survey of work by internationally acclaimed British artist Mike Nelson features his psychologically charged and atmospheric installations. Nelson’s installations take the viewer on enthralling journeys into fictive worlds that eerily echo our own. Constructed with materials scavenged from salvage yards, junk shops, auctions and flea markets, the immersive installations have a startling life-like quality. Utterly transforming the spaces of the Hayward Gallery, the exhibition features sculptural works and new versions of key large-scale installations, many of which are shown here for the first time since their original presentations.

Nelson represented Great Britain at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 and has shown in leading galleries around the world. He has also been featured in numerous international exhibitions, including the 13th Biennale of Sydney, the 8th Istanbul Biennial and the 13th Lyon Biennale.

Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London, SE1 8XX, UK

23.02.23

Until 30 July 2023

GIAN MARIA TOSATTI: NOW/HERE

Pirelli HangarBicocca presents NOw/here the solo exhibition by Gian Maria Tosatti. Two impressive painting cycles: with these new textured, abstract, largeformat works, the artist offers the public a “sentimental retrospective,” revealing his painting practice for the first time.

For Tosatti, the exhibition becomes an opportunity to address aspects of current events as well as the human condition at such a difficult moment in time, in a society poised between catastrophe and evolution. These works are also conceived as “mirrors,” open questions that directly confront the visitor.

Pirelli HangarBicocca, Via Chiese, 2, Milan, Italy

Copyright: © Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio

27.04.23

Until 30 April 2023

PAPER

Positions Berlin

The seventh edition of the art fair ‘paper positions berlin’ will feature over 50 international galleries presenting unique and powerful artworks that highlight the creative potential of paper and push the boundaries of the medium.

The multifaceted works, whether created in pencil, charcoal, pen and ink, watercolor and gouache, or in the form of collages, silhouettes, autographs or sculptures, show the artists inside at their most spontaneous and artistically liberated moments. In their intimacy, vulnerability and immediacy, the works on paper benefit from the exclusive attention they receive at this specialised art fair.

Hangars 5 and 6 of the former Tempelhof Airport, Berlin

DrawingRoom, Hanna Hennenkemper, Tage danach, 2013, Buntstifte auf Papier. Courtesy of the gallery

Spotlight / Events / Malta

March - May 2023

Exhibitions

Curated events in Malta

03.03.23

Until 3 April 2023

Rituals Of Passage

Rituals are part of everyday life. During times of distress, they give comfort. The title is based on the fact that rituals can bring you from one stage to another physically and mentally. Post-covid rituals can help us find balance in a disrupted society where attention to mental health and well-being has become important. Rituals can help make us name and discuss these issues. The artists created the works with the exhibition space in mind, presenting them in such a way that they interact with each other and that they challenge the viewer, offering context for the audience to create their own story. During the opening weekend some works will be accompanied by a performance and a discussion session about the meaning of rituals will be organized, followed by a meet and greet with the artists.

Curated by Ann Laenen and Stefan Kolgen. Participating Artists: Ryan Falzon (MT), Aaron Bezzina (MT), Alexandra Fraser (UK), Yasmine Akondo (BE), Mladen Hadžic (SRB), and Stefan Kolgen (BE). Supported by the Flemish Community, Sint Lucas Antwerpen and Valletta Contemporary.

Valletta Contemporary, 15, 16, 17 East Street, Valletta www.vallettacontemporary.com

03.03.23

Until 6 May 2023

Irregularity

03.23-05.23

Irregularity features a series of artworks by JP Migneco that explore the relationship between natural and artificial environments. The body of work involves a process of reinterpreting landscapes that are found near coastal areas in Malta, through the use of photography, drawing, digital media and painting. A method for mapping and tracing images of landforms is used to extract different shapes and tones to form fragmented compositions that combine elements of the natural and the artificial. This process involves the use of irregular polygonal grids which derive inspiration from models of fractal terrain and biomorphic architecture.The theme of this project delves into notions related to urbanisation and the advancement of technology. Therefore, the work attempts to evoke issues related to human-environment interaction in the digital age.

Valletta Contemporary, 15, 16, 17 East Street, Valletta www.vallettacontemporary.com

14.04.23

Until 29 April 2023

Everyday People

London-based Maltese artist IELLA (Daniela Attard) showcases 15 years of life drawing (from age 18 to the present) from an illustrator’s stylistic approach. Follow the artist’s journey through the early days at evening sessions at the Malta Society of the Arts to the vibrant life drawing scene of London, where she honed her skills in capturing the essence of their subjects by attending life drawing sessions around the city. From portraits to nudes, each piece showcases the unique joy of life drawing as a discipline but also as means of building creative muscle memory for more significant projects and illustration pieces.

Space A, Spazju Kreattiv, Castille Place, Valletta https://www.kreattivita.org/events/

12.05.23

Until 29 May 2023

VIA: THE WAY OF THE STREETS

VIA: The way through which one passes. The pictures presented in this exhibition with works by Jacob Sammut document the human element in the streets, describing life to date. It stands not only to teach people today what our lives are like but also to stand as a tool to educate those who get to see the photos in the years to come. The small selection of images used in this first edition of ‘VIA’ has been chosen from a vast archive of work that I started working on in 2014. The photographs are to be treated as documents to be preserved and archived for future generations to see. They were shot using 35mm or 120 medium-format, black and white film, which were then developed and hand-printed on fibre based paper in the darkroom.

Christine X Curated, Tigne street c/w Hughes Hallet street, Sliema www.christinexcurated.com