Ângela Ferreira | Hollows, Tunnels, Cavities, and More

24.Sep.2015 | 20.Nov.2015

Galeria Filomena Soares proudly presents the exhibition HOLLOWS, TUNNELS, CAVITIES, AND MORE by the artist ÂNGELA FERREIRA (Maputo, 1958). The exhibition opens on September 24th and will be on view until the November 14th, 2015.

This exhibition brings together material from various recent works. It is situated at the crossroads of different but related research into issues of space, form, sound and film projections, and their potential for creating political meaning. Initially I was interested in Robert Smithson's various representations of holes, cavities and landforms, particularly Towards the Development of a "Cinema Cavern", 1971, and Underground Projection Room (Utah Museum Plan), 1971. I was drawn to the metaphor of the spiral screw-like movement of the drill digging the ground that pointed to the activity of mining. The idea of the ominous underground or interior space transformed into a projection arena has been an important theme for me for some time, and was finally developed in my recent work A Tendency to Forget, 2015. Caves and tunnels were first seen as potential film projection spaces (like in Smithson's drawings), but later in Stone Free, 2012, in response to Jimmy Hendrix's performance at Chislehurst Caves in London, extended to explore the relationship between these spaces and sound.

I am always concerned with history and therefore alluding to the past and to the present: to the complex and painful history of mining in South Africa, Mozambique, and even in the DRC - through my public sculpture Entrer Dans la Mine, Lubumbashi, 2013. I visually recall the gigantic mining holes which testify to incommensurable human greed and have witnessed pain, sorrow, subjugation and exploitation. I am also referring to the mountains of stone and slag created by the digging of the earth for mining purposes. And finally I am connecting to the history of a mine in east London that in the 60s became a venue for underground music and is synonymous with Jimmy Hendrix's first rendition of ‘Stone Free'. This is the ambiguous title of one of Hendrix's signature songs celebrating his personal quest for freedom. Hendrix himself is used here as an embodiment of the idea of revolution (for his musical breakthroughs, technical inventiveness and virtuosity) and freedom.

Hollows, Tunnels, Cavities and More is a sculptural series that draws together images from all these projects. The sculptures are the result of an intuitive buildup of research material. It represents a subjective and free interpretation of accumulated sculptural images and drawing knowledge.

September 2015