Today: ‘From botany to exoticism. The making of a mirror’ – Art Talk @ Camões with Vasco Araújo

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Today: ‘From botany to exoticism. The making of a mirror’ – Art Talk @ Camões with Vasco Araújo

8:03 CAT | 15 Nov 2017

Autograph ABP(Courtesy photo) / Botânica #8 [detail], 2012-14

The presentation of three works by Vasco Araújo – ‘Tradução’ (2015) (‘Translation’), ‘Botânica’ (2014) (Botany) and ” ‘É nos sonhos que tudo começa’ (2014) ((‘It is in dreams that all begins’) – are the starting point for a dialogue on questions central to the work of this artist.

As part of the “Conversations with Artists” series, which has already seen dialogue with artists such as Angela Ferreira (Portugal), Félix Mula (Mozambique) and Simon Gush (South Africa), Camões – Portuguese Cultural Centre in Maputo is promoting a conversation with the contemporary artist Vasco Araújo, on Thursday, November 16, at 5.00 p.m.

“From botany to exoticism. The making of a mirror” will be the title for the session with Vasco Araújo (Lisbon, 1975), moderated by architect, gallerist and collector Guilherme Godinho.

Using sculpture, installation and video as the main means of artistic expression, Vasco Araújo urges a constant problematisation and criticism of colonialism and post-colonialism, as well as on the role of art in society.

For Araújo, art “serves as a mirror of society. She offers a mirror. When people say that art is very important, I think it’s only really important because it can do that, offer a mirror to society. No artist can say anything categorically; they can only do one thing: ask questions. And those questions are the mirror. And the person who sees the work has the possibility of questioning, and when questioning, is being built. One thing leads to another.”

Biography

Vasco Araújo was born in Lisbon in 1975, where he lives and works. In 1999 he completed his degree in Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon and between 1999 and 2000 attended the Advanced Course of Fine Arts at Maumaus in Lisbon. Since then he has participated in several individual and collective exhibitions both nationally and internationally, also integrating programmes of residences, such as Récollets (2005), Paris, and Core Program (2003/04), Houston, Texas.

In 2003 he received the EDP Novos Artistas Award.

Individual exhibitions of note include “Decolonial desire”, Autograph ABP, Londre, U.K. (2016); “Potestad”, MALBA – Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2015); “Under the Influence of Psyche”, The Power Plant, Toronto (2014); “Debret”, Pinacoteca of the State of S. Paulo, S. Paulo (2013); “Avec les voix de l’autre”, Musee d’art de Joliette, Joliette (2011); «More than life», Foundation C. Gulbenkian / CAM, Lisbon and MARCO, Vigo (2010); “Eco” Jeu de Paume, Paris (2008); “Vasco Araújo: Per-Versions”, the Boston Centre for the Arts, Boston (2008); “About Being Different” (2007), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, U.K .; “Pathos” (2006), “Domus Artium” 2002, Salamanca; “Dilemma (2005), S.M.A.K., Gent; L’inceste (2005), Museu do Azulejo Lisbon; The Girl of the Golden West (2005), The Suburban, Chicago; Dilema (2004), Serralves Museum, Porto; Sabine/Brunilde (2003), SNBA, Lisbon.

Araújo has participated in numerous collective exhibitions around the world. His work is published in several books and catalogues and represented in collections, public and private, such as Center Pompidou, Musée d’Art Modern (France); Berardo Collection Museum, Modern and Contemporary Art, (Portugal); Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal); Museum of Fine Arts Houston (USA); and Pinacoteca of the State of S. Paulo (Brazil).

Source: Press Release Centro Cultural Português - Camões