18 GALERIE ALEX SERRA
AKTUELL
René Tavares
Global Narratives of Southern Peoples
René Tavares
Eröffnung September: 3.9., Freitag, 11 - 22h, 4.9., Samstag 11 - 20h, 5.9., Sonntag 11-18h
Ausstellung: 3.9. – 30.10.2021
Di–Fr von 12–18h, Sa von 12 –17h, u.n.V.
GALERIE ALEX SERRA
c/o Haus der Stiftungen
Gereonswall 5 D-F,
50668 Köln
+49 1520 105 58 12
+351 962 393 208
galeriealexserra@gmail.com
www.galerie-serra.com
Global Narratives of Southern Peoples
René Tavares (ST, 1983) approaches Creole identity, the result of deep research into
the dynamics of migration, the central theme of his work, through a need to search for
an African identity in a colonized time by the Portuguese. At the same time as an
affirmation of the mestizo reality itself, the artist is interested in deepening the influence
of the boundaries between histories, languages and techniques and sharing this
exploratory journey.
Based on the Tchiloli, or the Tragedy of the Marquis of Mantua and the Emperor
Charlemagne, a reference play (theater) in São Tomé and Príncipe, portraying an
intense drama of love and death, and introduced in the 17th century by the Portuguese
colonizers and adapted at the time by slaves - "servants" - to claim their own
colonization, Tchiloli became a provocative means of communication, of manifestation
against the Portuguese regime. After its prohibition, like most other African
manifestations at the time, Tchiloli became a symbol of resistance and is now a unique
art of expression, which best identifies the culture and identity creation of the São
Tomense people.
This dramatic representation also marks an important moment in São Tomense art,
when the representation of the islands' folklore was the motivation for artistic
production by the first plastic artists considered "sons of the land”.
Through painting, photography, and sculpture, René Tavares has taken to translating
into traces, lines, and stains a personal synthesis of his own identity, in a process in
continuous development, positioning himself in constant movement between the
references of the past and present, but also envisioning the future of culture and its
identity.
The present exhibition gathers a very rich set of works by the artist, a result of this
continued and thorough study and research, where the signs of this memory
demonstrate that the distance that separates the two continents is not an impediment
to show a common point, which are the African values of their culture. Tales, or
collective stories that define their miscegenation and their legacy as heritage are a
bridge between the culture of who colonized them and, at the same time, while not
excluding their most distinctive qualities, show their true identity. Paulo Nunes
Eröffnung September: 3.9., Freitag, 11 - 22h, 4.9., Samstag 11 - 20h, 5.9., Sonntag 11-18h
Ausstellung: 3.9. – 30.10.2021
Di–Fr von 12–18h, Sa von 12 –17h, u.n.V.
