The second session of the cycle "Between Cultures - Arts, artists and intellectuals between Portugal and Mozambique'' takes place on 25 November at 6pm, at Gato Vadio. The artist Manuel Santos Maia will present his project "Alheava'', which began in 1999 and comprises two periods. "Alheava" is a project that delves into questions of colonialism and post-colonialism, from a transtemporal perspective, combining social and political history, family narratives and auto-fiction - elaborating problematics and rehearsing aesthetic configurations capable of actively contributing to the interpretation of collective relations with the colonial past - as well as an anthropology of memory (including the traumatic event and post-memory) to reflect the intercultural transits in which contemporary Portugal is constructed.
The cycle “Between Cultures - Arts, artists and intellectuals between Portugal and Mozambique'' is organised by CICANT researchers Lurdes Macedo and Vanessa Rodrigues, together with researcher Nuno Bessa, in partnership with bookshop Gato Vadio. The series aims to open up the possibility of discussion about issues related to the dialogue between Portugal and Mozambique from the point of view of the arts and culture. Based on three axes - the Arts, artists and intellectuals who have been (or are being) located between the two countries - the project consists of programming, organising, publicising, and holding eight talks - one per month between October 2023 and May 2024 - with different specialists. At each talk, the guest speaker will launch the topic and the discussion. The guest will expand on the topic based on the results of studies, research, or projects in which he or she has been involved, encouraging participants to reflect on and discuss the topic being analysed.
About Manuel Santos Maia and "Alheava”
"Alheava” is a project that comprises two different time periods. The first, between 1999 and 2014, was presented in different national and international spaces, covering various artistic practices. In this first period, Manuel Santos Maia draws on individual and family memories to address Portugal's alienation from its colonial past in a post-colonial era. It was during this phase of the project, in 2007, that the artist made the film that will be shown during the session. It's a controversial film that proposes an open discussion about Portugal's colonial past in Mozambique, based on the appropriation of "non-moments" filmed by his father during late colonialism. It is António Manuel Machado Maia, the artist's father, who takes on the role of narrator to tell us about his life in Mozambique, without camouflaging a reality in which, while investing in the progress of the then colony, a war was raging that opened wounds on both sides. The second period of the "Alheava '' project begins in 2014, when Maia returns to Mozambique, the country of his birth, after an absence of almost 40 years. This return comes after a decade and a half of research and the public sharing of memories and reflections. During this second period, the artist held several exhibitions in which he returned to his/our places of memory to rethink the link between Portugal and Mozambique.
About Minibio by Manuel Santos Maia
Manuel Santos Maia - Nampula, Mozambique, 1970. Lives and works in Porto. Graduated in Fine Arts - Painting from FBAUP. He has been exhibiting regularly since 1999. Manuel Santos Maia's work, which includes various artistic practices such as installation, photography, painting, video, performance, theatre and sound, has been shown in different countries and in various national cities.