2025, When We See Us em Bruxelas

Bozar, 3 - “Triunfo e Emancipação”

"What underpins When We See Us is the perpetuation, essence and phenomenon of Black joy. Joy can be radical and political. Even without reactively resisting, it can be a profound tool used to dislodge harmful tropes and refute the centrality of colonialism, as emphasized by Achille Membe in ‘African Modes of Self-Writing’. Furthermore, the exhibition goes far beyond the lament of scholar Kevin Quashie when he says “nearly all of what has been written about Blackness assumes that Black culture is, or should be, identified by resistant expressiveness - a response to racial oppression, a speaking back to the dominant ideology”. Rather, When We See Us challenges this by focusing on how Black artists see themselves and each other apart from imposed or reductive narratives associated with the spectacle of Black pain. The theme of Joy thus manifests in the exhibition in the form of euphoric revelry, repose, the quotidian, sensuality, triumph and the metaphysical. What makes this exhibition different is that it is a large conglomeration of diverse painting traditions by Black artists from around the world, conceived and held on African soil. It demonstrates how Black artists have been seeing and celebrating themselves for the last one hundred years. A fete of this scale and dynamism is seldom seen." Catálogo

3 moçambinanos no Bozar (2 com carreira internacional), representados em "When We See Us", Bruxelas:

Cassi Namoda (1988, Maputo) na secção "Espiritualidade", tal como o Malangatana (1936-2011).

Luís Meque (1966-1998), secção Triunfo e Emancipação, entre os retratos

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Cassi Namoda.
(1988, Maputo)
"To Live Long Is To See Much (Ritual Bathers III)" 2020
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of Jorge M. Pérez Collection, MiaMI

Malangatana Ngwenya
(1936, Matalana Village, Mozambique-2011, Matosinhos, Portugal)
"O Curandeiro (The Sangoma or the Healer)"
1964
Oil on board
Courtesy of Pedro M. S. Monteiro

Luis Meque
(1966, Tete - 1998, Harare, Zimbabwe)
Untitled 1992
Acrylic on paper
Courtesy of Harry Kantor Collection

O L.M. na revista da Gallery Delta de Harare, ... desapareceu muito cedo. referido brevemente no livro de Alda Cota