All I want: Collective Memories
Discover the selection of works that integrate this thematic section of the exhibition “All I want – Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020” followed by the curators' text.
By Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Curators: Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand
Section 11 – Collective Memories
Filipa César's films focus on the moral landscape of a country that banished people deemed to have committed deviant acts to Castro Marim, a village in the Algarve known for salt production.
MemogramaOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
Memograma, 2010
HD, colour, sound, 40'
Collection Filipa César
MemogramaOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
MemogramaOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
MemogramaOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
Memograma, in which the artist records accounts of these persecutions and their effect on a society under the thumb of a dictatorial regime, was later complemented by Insert, which offers the viewer an elliptical narrative about a forbidden love between two women.
Using the constant presence of the sea as a metaphor for boundaries and limits, these films deal with segregation and resistance, conflict and resilience – themes that run through all of the artist's recent work.
InsertOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
Insert, 2010
16 mm film transferred to HD, black and white, no sound, 10'
Collection Filipa César
InsertOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
InsertOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
InsertOriginal Source: Collection Filipa César
A World of Illusions
Grada Kilomba's work centres on the analysis and deconstruction of the discursive, ideological, social, cultural, and biopolitical structures on which racist, sexist or colonialist actions or stances are founded.
Rather than decrying the phenomena through which such behaviour manifests itself on a daily basis, Kilomba turns her attention to the cultural assumptions that underpin and help perpetuate them.
Illusions Vol. II, Oedipus (2018) by Grada KilombaOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Illusions Vol. II, Oedipus, 2018
2-channel video installation, HD, colour, sound; Scenographic idea: Grada Kilomba, Moses Leo; Scenographic design: Shahrzad Rahmini
Variable dimensions
Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
The video installation triptych A World of Illusions, of which we show the second part, Oedipus, provides a clear example of her almost archaeological focus: by casting a critical eye over the world of Greek mythology, she seeks answers to this long history of violence in what is both the cradle of European identity and knowledge, and the origin of all subsequent colonialism.
Illusions Vol. II, OedipusOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Illusions Vol. II, OedipusOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Illusions Vol. II, OedipusOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Illusions Vol. II, OedipusOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Illusions Vol. II, OedipusOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Illusions Vol. II, OedipusOriginal Source: Courtesy of the Artist and Goodman Gallery
Women Of My Country
One of the most remarkable efforts at securing recognition for women in a country repressed by an authoritarian regime and moral codes steeped in machismo was the project As Mulheres do Meu País [Women of My Country] by Maria Lamas, who brought together a vast collection of images to craft a detailed portrait of the customs, activities and living conditions of Portuguese women in the mid-20th century.
A meticulously accurate portrait that bears notable similarities to the photographic projects that came to embody the New Objectivity, most notably Walker Evans' work for the Farm Security Administration, the book is a tribute by Maria Lamas to her fellow countrywomen, paying homage to their heroism and selflessness, and denouncing the deep-seated ignorance and collective lack of consideration with which that half of the population is so often treated.
The Women of My CountryOriginal Source: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, H.G. 7832 A, S.C. 7557 A
The Women of My CountryOriginal Source: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, H.G. 7832 A, S.C. 7557 A
The Women of My CountryOriginal Source: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, H.G. 7832 A, S.C. 7557 A
The Women of My Country, 1948-1950
Book; text: Maria Lamas, drawings: Fernando Carlos, Actuális, Lisbon [1948-50], 471 pp., 32 cm
Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, H.G. 7832 A, S.C. 7557 A
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Cover of the exhibition catalogueCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
This exhibition brings together about two hundred works by forty female Portuguese artists. Its primary objective is to assist in rectifying the systematic erasure that works by these artists – like so of their sisters elsewhere in the world – have suffered since time immemorial.
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The exhibition All I want: Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020, in its first moment at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, is part of the cultural program that takes place in parallel to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021.
Exhibition organized by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in co-production with the Center of Contemporary Creation Olivier Debré, Tours, and with the collaboration of the Plano Nacional das Artes (Portugal).
Curatorship and text:
Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand
Get to know in detail the universe of artists presented in this section through a text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes:
Filipa César
Grada Kilomba
Maria Lamas
