Grada KilombaO BARCO, 2021
'O Barco/The Boat' is an installation by artist Grada Kilomba, stretching 32 meters which form the silhouette of the bottom of a ship and carefully draw the space created to accommodate the bodies of millions of Africans, enslaved by European empires. In the Western imaginary, a boat is easily associated with glory, freedom and maritime expansion, described as “discoveries” but, in the artist's view, “a continent with millions of people cannot be discovered” nor “one of the longest and most horrendous chapters of humanity – Slavery – can be erased”. 'O Barco' invites the audience to enter a garden of memory, in which poems rest on burnt wooden blocks, recalling forgotten stories and identities. What stories are told? Where are they told? How are they told? And told by whom? These are questions that arise when entering this installation.
Commissioned by BoCa-Biennale of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal and Kunsthalle Baden Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany, the work was twice awarded the Best Solo Exhibition in Brazil 2024 at Inhotim, by SP-Arte and Revista Select.
