África enquanto lugar de memória em Portugal

: o espaço e o tempo nas obras de Pedro Valdez Cardoso, Vasco Araújo e Francisco Vidal

Abstract

Memory is a territory where the present is activated by its relationship with the past. In Portugal, Africa presents itself as a place where individual and collective memories, as well as public and private memories converge. These memories result from a long-term historical relationship that became more effective with the Discoveries. Aspects such as the various cycles of the Portuguese colonization, the ideology of the “Estado Novo” (“New State”) – that places the empire at the centre of discourses –, the 25th April 1974 Revolution, as well as the decolonization process, contribute to transform Africa into a recurrent and heterogeneous topic in the domain of (artistic) representation. Pedro Valdez Cardoso, Vasco Araújo and Francisco Vidal are three contemporary Portuguese artists, who have different memories and perspectives on the African continent. By projecting these memories onto their works, and by discussing spaces such as the gallery and the garden, and the map understood as a particular representation of space, they mostly reflect about identity issues, the long term relationship between Africa and Portugal nowadays, and the importance of the past and the future.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Adriana Martins (Supervisor)