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Luanda's Triennial boosts Angola's nascent art scene
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Luanda's Triennial boosts Angola's nascent art scene
AFP - Sunday, December 5
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Luanda's Triennial boosts Angola's nascent art scene
LUANDA (AFP) - – Carnival photos, collages celebrating heroes of Angolan independence and a picture of a street salesman clutching fake luxury handbags are among the many eclectic works at Luanda's Triennial art festival.
Only in its second edition, the Triennial, which runs until December 19, has established itself as a springboard for local artists, such as photographer Kiluanji Kia-Henda, to ultimately reach a bigger stage.
A triptych of his featuring an Angolan soldier dressed in a Soviet uniform smoking a Cuban cigar, is one of several works that aims to explore the legacy of colonialism and foreign adventures in Angola.
The work, entitled "A memory for you", was inspired by words scribbled in Spanish on a postcard by one of the Cuban soldiers who came to help Angola's Marxist government fight off UNITA rebels backed by apartheid South Africa.
"I was born in 1979, I'm just a bit younger than my country, which became independent in 1975. I feel completely connected to the history of Angola," said Kia-Henda.
His career took off after the first Triennial, organised between 2005 and 2007 by the Sindika Dokolo Foundation, created and named for a rich Congolese businessman married to a daughter of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
Dokolo is also an avid collector of contemporary African art, which the festival aims to promote, hoping to eventually create a permanent art museum in Luanda.
"It's about looking to the future, creating platforms" for a nascent art scene still sorely in need of support, said the foundation's director, Angolan artist Fernando Alvim.
"(At the first event) we accepted every project proposed, until the space was full," he said in his offices in the Hotel Globo, a social landmark under the Portuguese colonial that fell into disuse during the 27-year civil war.
The formula worked for Kia-Henda, whose exposure at the first Triennial led to exhibitions in Venice, Sao Paulo and Bordeaux. Other exhibitors at the inaugural event have also since tasted success.
"The first Luanda Triennial was a real political act. It brought dignity to my work and the work of my generation of Angolans," said Miguel Yonamine, who is also showing at this year's festival.
"It allowed us to become universal artists and not just local ones."
Yonamine's confidence was boosted by the event and it helped stimulate the new perspectives that emerged in his latest work.
His newest collages find common ground between the Angolan "musseque" shantytowns where he grew up and the poor neighbourhoods in Lisbon where he now lives.
Although Yonamine resides in the Portuguese capital he says he would like to move back to Luanda but he does not think it is currently feasible.
"Here I am limited in terms of production," he said. "Everything is so expensive: housing, purchasing equipment, and even bringing in customers. For now everything is easier for me to Lisbon."
Festival organiser Alvim, however, who bought one of Yonamine's works for the foundation at the cost of 50,000 dollars (37,700 euros), disagrees.
"Although life is expensive in Luanda, Angolan artists' works are more expensive to buy here because they are already highly recognized," he said.
Alvim believes the Angolan art market "is still fragmented" and many artists are selling their works independently, to not only "Angolan companies, but also young local collectors."
"But (the country) lacks three or four galleries," he said, that could form the bones of something better and more organised.
The Triennial has also become more ambitious since its first edition, widening its focus to include architecture, dance, theatre and cinema. Artists from the rest of Africa and Brazil have also been invited to participate.
Entrance is free at all five of the venues, in a bid to make art accessible to a nation where two thirds of the population lives in poverty.
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