Tropical Melancholy or the Island that Lost the Equator can be seen until November 9th at Hangar, located at Rua Damasceno Monteiro 12, in the Graça neighborhood of Lisbon. The space will be open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday, from 3 pm to 7 pm.
The latest exhibition by artist Daniel Blaufuks, entitled Melancolia Tropical ou a Ilha que Perdeu o Equador, opened on September 18 at Hangar – Centro de Investigação Artística in Lisbon. The exhibition, which will run until November 9, proposes a profound and visually striking reflection on the painful history of Portuguese colonization in São Tomé and Príncipe.
Daniel Blaufuks, born in 1963, is known for his photographic work that addresses historical and memory-related themes. In this new exhibition, Daniel explores the Portuguese colonization of São Tomé and Príncipe, an island that, at the beginning of the 20th century, stood out as the largest exporter of cocoa in the world. The wealth generated, however, depended on the exploitation of plantations and, above all, on workers known as “serviçais”, mostly from other Portuguese colonies, such as Cape Verde and Angola. Lured by illusory promises of return after five years of work, these men and women rarely saw these promises fulfilled.
The exhibition Melancolia Tropical is composed of a series of collages that combine snapshots, text clippings and images from newspapers and books, manuscripts, botanical specimens, postage stamps and maps. These works, predominantly small in format, are the medium chosen by Blaufuks to tell a story of violence, exploitation and suffering, which resonates with the narratives of oppression of colonialism.
