Until June 23, the Fondation Dapper presents the exhibition “Brazil and Africa: a shared history”, highlighting the remarkable work of Aline Motta. Initially planned as an event linked to the now-postponed Dakar Biennale 2024, this exhibition reveals the contemporary repercussions of the transatlantic slave trade and colonization. Installed on the Island of Gorée in Senegal, it spans four open-air sites: the Landing, the main beach, the ramparts of the Grand Esplanade and the Nelson Mandela Human Rights Square. This immersive artistic event, presented by Aline Motta, aims to bring these two continents with a shared past closer together through art.
Curated by Aude Leveau Mac Elhone, the exhibition “Aline Motta, Brazil and Africa: a shared history” reveals to visitors the moving visual narratives of this contemporary Brazilian artist. A native of Niteroí, Brazil, Aline Motta explores themes of identity, memory, family and historical heritage through a variety of media including performance, text, photography and video.
Aline Motta‘s unique artistic approach skilfully blends creativity with in-depth documentary research. Her versatile works clearly express her poetic and introspective multidisciplinary approach, where she elegantly links her personal experiences to broader historical and social narratives. With a keen interest in the history of the slave trade, Aline Motta focuses in particular on the impact of colonization, the transatlantic slave trade and the notion of “whitewashing” on contemporary society.
Aline Motta eloquently raises a fundamental question through her works presented in the exhibition “Brazil and Africa, a shared history”. This innovative artistic exploration reveals, in a psychoanalytical dimension, the artist’s family ties and roots, brought to light through the prism of the struggle against the colonial legacy. Beyond this personal dimension, the creations evoke in a broader way the shared history of the Afro-descendant diaspora and the actors involved in the slave trade, inciting the public to a profound reflection on our identity, our relationship with the past and the contemporary world, in order to reconstruct our vision in an authentic way, transcending the stigma of the past.
The Brazilian artist’s works, carefully selected by curator Aude Leveau Mac Elhone, offer a new perspective on the present and the future, finding a particular echo on an emblematic site such as the Île de Gorée, a poignant symbol of the transatlantic slave trade. At the boarding house, a trilogy comprising the series “Si la mer avait des balcons” (If the sea had balconies), “Ponts au-dessus de l’Abîme” (Bridges over the abyss) and “(Autres) Fondations” (Other) Foundations will be presented. In her poetic images, Aline Motta integrates portraits and birth certificates of people of African descent in an almost ritualistic way.
Other subtly evocative shots explore the artist’s complex identity in relation to her geographical location, presenting herself as black in Brazil and white in Nigeria, while questioning the identities of all Afro-descendants. These profound, evocative images highlight the intimate links that remain between Africa, Europe and America. In this work, which oscillates between artistic poetry and documentary research carried out on three continents, water plays a central role as a symbol of transatlantic connections and healing.
At the Nelson Mandela Esplanade and Human Rights Square, visitors are transported back to colonial times through a monumental work of photography and site-specific installation entitled “Natural Daughter”. Produced in Brazil, these photographic compositions capture the essence of the plantation where the Brazilian artist’s great-great-grandmother is said to have suffered slavery. They interweave historical and contemporary images taken in the same place to establish a dialogue between eras; merging past and present, they fill in the gaps in her ancestor’s fragmented history and, by extension, the history of Afro-descendants.
And on the main beach, Aline Motta offers a poetic excerpt from the series “Si la mer avait des balcons” (“If the sea had balconies”). This poem encourages us to strengthen post-colonial ties between nations sharing a common history, so as not to forget and to rebuild together. The exhibition highlights the importance of recognizing and repairing the fractures of colonial history, encouraging reflection on post-colonial ties and the unity of nations sharing a common history. Through her works, artist Aline Motta invites us to embrace and rebuild a collective memory together, while honoring the roots and past of Afro-descendants.