Luis Damião's residency is part of the programme that INSTITUTO brought to the city of Porto, with artists, curators and researchers established between Portugal and Angola. It took place at INSTITUTO in August and September 2021. The residency aims to continue the artist's work, exploring image manipulation and printing techniques. His object of study is the vast photographic estate of his father, photojournalist Paulino Damião (known as Kota 50), who died in November 2020.

Kota 50 was a photographer for Jornal de Angola between 1976 and 2017. Throughout his career, he received several awards (among them the National Plastic Artists Award 2010 / Photojournalism Category; Maboque Journalism Award 2013 / Image Category) and left a photographic archive which narrates and records numerous events linked to the history of post-independent Angola.

It is proposed that the exploration of this relevant photographic archive will be entered from the personal perspective of Luis Damião. The artist will search, select, edit and transform material from the vast photographic estate and will also produce new works. The residency will be accompanied by a series of activities (conversations, tutorials, workshops). These activities, taking place at INSTITUTO, will also be enhanced by the “Desmonte” project, a project about artistic creation, exhibition and publication, which includes the support from the Direção-Geral das Artes, based on a collaboration between Angolan artists Lino Damião (brother of Luis Damião) and Nelo Teixeira.

Biography

Luis Damião (Luanda, 1978) is an Angolan visual artist who works with photography and installation. His work expresses strong experimental and research components and explores unconventional means of production. Luis is part of an emerging generation of artists who launch new perspectives on the conventions of photographic practice within the era of digital technology. The aesthetic construction of his work reports on the universe of portrait and documentary photography, but with simultaneous use of the expressive materiality of the support.

In 2002, he presents his work publicly for the first time through the collective artistic project “Art & Moda”, held at Espaço Cultural Elinga. That year, he accompanied the renowned photographer Carlos Lousada on expeditions to Luanda and he collaborated in several editions of a jazz festival organized by Jerónimo Belo. He has collaborated with Jornal de Angola and with Jornal Cultura das Edições Novembro, and with the in-flight magazine “Austral”, of the Angolan airline TAAG.

In 2012, he held his first solo photography exhibition with the title “Mulheres do dia-a-dia”, at Galeria De Maio, UNAP. That same year, he published photographs of his authorship in a book edited by Paulo Moreira, as part of the Fernando Távora Prize 2012, established by the Northern Regional Section of the Ordem dos Arquitetos, Portugal. Also in 2012, his photographs were part of the scenography of the soap opera Windhoek by TPA 2. Apart from that, he participated in the Besa Photo contest and collaborated as production and photography assistant on the film “On the naturalist's trail”, by producer TerraTreme. In 2019-20, he had a solo exhibition at a gallery called This is Not a White Cube, and participated in the group exhibition “Intersections-Within the Global South” at Galeria do Banco Económico, both in Luanda. He also represented Angola at the 12th edition of the African Photography Biennial in Bamako, Mali.

Open Studio: 17.09 - 15.10.2021

Workshop: 15.10.2021

Support:

InResidence (Ágora - Cultura e Desporto, E.M.)

Photos:

Ivo Tavares

Luis Damião
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