"Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it" Frantz Fanon

 

Approaching Manuel Figueira's work is a daring gesture, which requires careful unveiling and discovering conceptual, symbolic and pictorial layers; meanings and signifiers.

"Drawing the Resistance" proposes a transversal look at Manuel Figueira's artistic production, from his time as a student in Lisbon to his time as a Mindelo chronicler, an interweaving of various aspects of his production, without any chronological bias.

 

The curatorial work and exhibition design took on the occupation of the Luísa Queirós Gallery and the Bela Duarte Gallery at CNAD, articulating two moments respectively: The utopia of collectivity or small resistances; Micronarratives or how the art was made from the history of a people.

 

Between daring, freedom and small and large revolutions, Manuel Figueira's artistic production teaches us how important it is to understand the cultural conditions, languages and methods of being and doing of (small) communities. Awareness of the characteristics that make them up and their specificities are essential if we want to approach the complex histories (poetic, exchange, immigration and return) that have influenced and continue to influence artistic languages and the construction of identities.

 

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Curatored by. Paula Nascimento e Ângelo Lopes 

Research and assistance. Elisangela Monteiro – CNAD

Exhibition Design. Ângelo Lopes e Paula Nascimento

Video. Ângelo Lopes 

Sound. Universo da Ilha, Vasco Martins, 1986

Translation. Louisiana Matos Ogunfowora

Photography. Ângelo Lopes

Works courtesy of. CNAD Collection, Manuel Figueira and Sérgio Figueira, Ana Cordeiro, Carlos Morbey Duarte Silva

Galleries. Luísa Queirós e Bela Duarte, Centro Nacional de Arte, Artesanato e Design, Mindelo – São Vicente, Cabo Verde, 2023/24