Catalogue that documents the individual exhibition by Ilídio Candja Candja, Octopus and Myopia, curated by Rafael Bordalo Mouzinho, which was on show at Galeria Quadrum between 24 March and 27 June 2021. Besides the photographic documentation of the exhibited works, it contains texts by Tobi Maier, Rafael Bordalo Mouzinho and Titos Moisés Pelembe.
“The title of the exhibition is a reference to colonial power through the metaphor of the Octopus as the Portuguese empire, whose forces reach the former colonies through its tentacles. Myopia, meanwhile, represents difficulties in seeing; not as disability, however, but as concealment and camouflage, a tendency to find a path that – in the artist’s words – “favours both parties, the colonised and the coloniser, in which decolonization means creating a favourable environment for all”.”
-Tobi Maier
“One does not need to write a long dissertation to demonstrate that traditional religion in Africa, and in Mozambique in particular, forms part of a system. Indeed, the exposition Octopus and Myopia is a unmatched demonstration of this fact especially in its “description” of the elements that make up various rites, since a rite presupposes an overarching principle that serves as a poin of reference, and in which this rite finds its explanation and power.”
-Rafael Bordalo Mouzinho
“Generically, the sensations of vibratory movements, rhythms, tensions, phrase engraving, rupture, subjectivity, escape-spaces created by (ir)regular lines, strong colours, stains, dots, collages, recurring cut-outs of planes and depths are the fountain of expressive elements of Candja Candja’s pictorial universe, continuously under development. From another perspective, the aforementioned visual elements convey the dimension of spiritual ancestry, symphonies, gestures of an expanding organism. Questions of identity and contemporary problems inherent to voluntary or forced migratory flows are also raised within the work. The artist furthermore makes a point of revisiting the naturalism that characterises cave paintings as a way to reinforce the cosmic dimension in his work.”
-Titos Moisés Pelembe
