Catalogue of the exhibition The Most Beautiful Language, by artist Grada Kilomba, which was on view at Galeria Avenida da Índia between October 2017 and February 2018. Grada Kilomba (1968, Lisbon, Portugal) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Berlin – with roots in São Tomé e Principe, Angola and Portugal. The publication features texts by Joana Gomes Cardoso, EGEAC Board of Directors President, and curator Gabi Ngcobo.
“While Grada Kilomba is not the only Portuguese woman that the country needs to hear, her voice was already long overdue. Based in Berlin for several years (and maybe “remembered” in Portugal for her stand-out role in the São Paulo Biennale of 2016), Kilomba´s artistic trajectory addresses the decolonization of language, narrative and knowledge from a variety of standpoints.”
– Joana Gomes Cardoso
“The Most Beautiful Language should not be treated as yet another road towards decolonization. Art does not decolonize. It can, however, as Kilomba´s work has demonstrated, open up yet unknown avenues for the process of decolonization to take shape. This exhibition should be considered as a stage on which possibilities of shifting audiences from being viewers to participants; from the described to the self-describing are presented in unexpected ways.”
– Gabi Ngcobo