Silêncio Coletivo: Annunciation

“Annunciation” stems from an extensive exploration of the wave of protests organized by Black Lives Matter after the brutal murder of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis, the protests against the genocide of indigenous children in Canada, and the burning of the Borba Gato monument to the bandeirantes (early Brazilian fortune hunters) in São Paulo, to raise questions about the tensions of city living.

By filling all the walls of the Hangar with images of recently torn-down monuments to colonialism, the exhibition brings to the surface the importance of rethinking these events.

Propped against the walls visitors will find images printed on cardboard of monuments that commemorated the Portuguese invasions of the so-called “New World”. Their lack of volume suggests their loss of meaning, and their positioning heralds the imminent fall of those monuments, stubbornly standing, and perpetuating Portuguese colonial self-esteem.