DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTOS
Amid the cubicles and display walls at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery, the spirit and pride of the Cape Verdean culture is revealed through an exhibition of artworks by nine artists.
“Konbersu Pintadu: Painted Conversations from the Diaspora,” running now until June 15, was co-curated by Debbie Hesse, the Arts Council’s director of artistic services and programs, and Jose Monteiro, former director for community cultural development at the Arts Council. For three years, the creative team collaborated on many new programs including a pop up Graffiti Jam, Vehicles for Art, and Exact Change.
Monteiro (pictured) headed to greater Boston after his stint at the Arts Council. He currently promotes and supports the work of emerging artists through Movementu Shokanti (Shocking Movement), a grassroots initiative that “connects and engages local neighborhoods, multicultural communities, artists and arts organizations to provide opportunities for education, empowerment and cross-cultural pollination.”
Fantasmas d’agua, Jo Velhinho.
The Republic of Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten islands off the coast of West Africa. Colonized by Portugal in the 15th century, the tropical island setting gave rise to a burgeoning slave trade while also serving the shipping needs of Europe, India, and other nations. Known as the cradle of Creole existence, it received its independence from Portugal in 1975, a catalyst for the ensuing diaspora that today at least matches the population of all of Cape Verde.
Monteiro, who attended the opening reception for the exhibit on May 1, talked with visitors about the nation’s cultural and creative history, referencing symbolic elements within works and the overall subject matter that reflect Cape Verdean concerns and aspirations.
Cesaria Evora, Dudu Rodrigues.
A portrait of the popular Cape Verdean singer, the late Cesaria Evora by artist Dudu Rodrigues, features colorful, transparent tonalities and brushstrokes over panuterra (handmade textiles). Monteiro explained that during the era of slavery, particular patterns and symbols in fabric served as encoded means of communication among the enslaved population. The indigenous textile patterns remain popular today as cultural and stylistic statements.
From the emotive, earthy tonalities of artist Avelino Silva, who returned to painting recently after a period of work in the corporate world…
… to the feminist exaltations of multilingual painter and jewelry designer Fatima Fidalgo Barros (pictured), whose expressive portraits exude internal strength and sense of nobility, the show, while stylistically disparate, holds together as a visual cultural manifesto.
Funana Finkadu, Jo Velhinho.
Some of the works focus on individual, figurative forms with gestural exuberance…
Jessica, Dagi Andrade.
… while others speak to cultural roots with graphic boldness.
Rogerio Gomes’s “Grita Bo Liberdade” (Scream Your Liberty), a sparsely painted image on wood, invokes the shark mascot of the nation’s soccer team (the Blue Sharks) in conveying a message of liberation after centuries of colonial subjugation.
In the quotidian acts of island life depicted, we glimpse a world far removed from our own harried, urban existence; images which are not idealized, but are ideal.
Hesse said she is happy to be collaborating with Monteiro again. “We have lots of creative ideas we plan to co-present in the near future.… This show features works by artists in Cape Verde. Future projects will recontextualize these cultural artworks into new, curatorial projects.”
Among these will be a free cultural celebration with food, music, and artist talks centered around Cape Verdean culture at the Gallery at Elemar, 99 – 107 Shelton Avenue, Newhallville in late June.
Konbersu Pintadu runs through June 15 at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon Street.
