Angolan artist Ana Silva is featured at this year’s 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair Marrakech with a solo exhibition organized by MAGNIN-A gallery that unveils 23 works, including the latest pieces in the “Vestir Memorias” series, which have been presented in two institutional exhibitions in Portugal and Angola.
Ana Silva is an engaged artist who weaves sensitive connections between her personal history and a more universal story through her works. She collects her materials from flea markets in Luanda, Angola, and diverts them to create poetic and subtle works that often span several meters.
Ana Silva has been fascinated by the colors, patterns, shapes and materials of Western fashion since she was a child, when she was browsing flea markets instead of going to the beach with her sisters. She made her first works using plastic bags that contained bales of fabric, on which she embroidered and assembled pieces of fabric and lace.
With her latest series “Vestir Memorias“, Ana Silva questions the trade in second-hand clothes in Africa because of the negative impact of fast fashion on the environment and the economy. The textile industry has been dumping tons of textile waste in Africa for more than half a century, which has a direct impact on the economy and on the Angolan fashion sector. Second-hand clothes are so cheap that they make it difficult, if not impossible, for fashion designers to exist in Angola. Ana Silva invites us to question our ability to forge our own identity if we follow a fashion dictated by other countries.
Ana Silva, a talented transdisciplinary artist
Ana Silva is a multidisciplinary artist who developed a passion for creation at a very young age. Born and raised on an isolated farm twenty kilometers from the first village, she spent a lot of time reading and building things.
Her father was concerned about her activities and took her to a psychologist, but he confirmed that she simply had an artistic sensibility.
Today, Ana Silva lives in Lisbon and Paris and practices painting, sculpture and installation. Her works are based on feminist and ecological themes. She works with recycled materials such as plastic bags or old clothes, to create unique pieces that narrate the history of women, their difficulties and their struggles. For Ana Silva, it is important to convey a message through her art.
Ana Silva is also a talented writer. She accompanies her artworks with poems that give more meaning to her creations. Her poems are filled with memories of her life on the farm, her home war and the occupation of her village by rebels to convey important messages about feminist and ecological issues.