The "Alter Ego" exhibition was inaugurated yesterday. Curated by Vhils and Pauline Foessel, the exhibition of 27 Portuguese-speaking, Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau artists is spread over six spaces in the city and can be visited until 9 September. Conceived as a route, the first stop proposed by the curators is Macau Museum of Art, where "The Self" is on show.
The Masters of the West sculpted in paper by Li Hongbo; a bamboo labyrinth of João Ó and Rita Machado; photographs depicting the youth generation of Hong Kong by Wing Shya; a photographic series by Mauro Pinto that unveils houses in the Mozambican neighbourhood of Magalia; the portraits of Herberto Smith that became his family album; and faces carved by Alexandre Farto (Vhils) that serve as a metaphor for the loss of individuality in the urban landscape – this meeting of languages, techniques and artists took place on Sunday July 8 at the Macau Museum of Art (MAM), the first stop on the route conceived by Pauline Foessel and Vhils, entitled "Alter Ego".
"We looked for a theme that could create dialogues between all these countries and different cultures. We found that this theme – Alter Ego – could in fact represent these connections, bridges and exchanges," said Pauline Foessel, co-curator of “Alter Ego”, during the visit to the exhibition.
MAFALALA, A NEIGHBORHOOD "WHERE PRACTICALLY THE WHOLE MOZAMBIQUE FINDS ITSELF"
On show in Macau, Mauro Pinto presents the BES Photo 2012 winning series, "Dá Licença", captured in the neighbourhood of Mafalala, which is, according to the artist, "where practically the whole Mozambique finds itself".
"Usually in a country where there are several religions there is always separation, but in this neighbourhood there is none, and it looks like a new religion that exists in the world. At the same time, they are poor people, but I wanted to give dignity to this neighbourhood, to show that being poor does not mean loss of dignity" Mauro Pinto explains.
The process, which began in 2011 and ended the following year, was for the artist "a very strong photographic work, without knowing what was on the other side." He went knocking door to door, always expecting a "yes, you can come in" opening the doors of the houses he photographed, as he found them.
"The way I started to photograph was interesting, it was by listening to the neighbourhood, and how it works, how they work amongst themselves and with the neighbourhood itself. That gave me the title ‘Dá Licença’" (allow me).
HERBERTO SMITH'S FAMILY ALBUM
More than 80 small-scale photographs, compelling approximation by the viewer, make up the body of work presented by Herberto Smith. They are, for the most part, portraits of strangers whose mission is to put those at the fringes of society, on the map.
"At first I tried to map the exclusion of the urban area. [These people] come from marginalized areas and I tried to put them on the media map. Even in Lisbon you can see black people but you don’t know where they live, because they do not have access to the city", the photographer explains. By photographing these people, Herberto Smith says that he has developed close relationships with them and, therefore, says that the work presented is his "family album".
“When I started to meet people, I discovered that when you get too close to someone you become that person. Now this work is not about the other, it is about me as well. It's like a family album".
GLOBALIZATION VS. IDENTITY
In a dark room, three faces are illuminated by pulsed and rhythmic light that, Vhils explains, serve as a metaphor for the loss of human identity, in the space man himself created.
"What I sought from this work was a kind of confrontation between cities and the process of globalization that comes with the city model and our human identity, that was so particular for hundreds of years, and nowadays things have become more and more similar. In the name of our comfort we are forgetting what we were individuals in every corner of the world".
However, this work is not a criticism, but rather a reflection, on how globalization confronts the identity of each individual and how each one is affected by this standardization.
"Many of the tensions we have in the world come from this balance between what we are, and what the impact of this is."
SCULPTURES THAT EXTEND LIKE ACCORDIONS
Li Hongbo explains that his training began like any other Chinese artist, drawing sculptures of masters from the West.
"I started by drawing and painting many of these sculptures and discovered that this unleashed my way of thinking".
From drawing he moved to sculpture, but the medium remained the same – paper. It is a series of sculptures in paper of Western masters that unfold like an accordion, returning to its original form in the blink of an eye, that Li Hongbo brings to Macau. Accompanying the busts carved in paper, the sculptor also brought a piece that represents the two dimensions of his work. Occupying two walls, one sculpture extends and contracts itself, while another one, similar to the first sculpture, remains in a corner in its closed form.
THE MASTERS OF BAMBOO TRANSFORMED INTO TAI CHI MASTERS
João Ó and Rita Machado continue the exploration of bamboo, but this time focusing on the workers. The labyrinthine installation that welcomes the public at the entrance to the exhibition is later followed by three projections of the bamboo masters.
"These people are the masters of bamboo and we have created a connection between these positions and tai chi. To us, the positions, the movements are quite similar. If we take out the bamboo we have the opportunity to see only the positions and forget that the structure exists", Rita Machado explains.
At the entrance to the exhibition, João Ó and Rita Machado installed what they call an "immersive installation".
"It is this type of spatial submersion between the exterior and the interior that we are interested in and this is one of many facets with which we try to explore bamboo scaffolding. The idea is that you can have an experience of the senses by being able to touch and explore. This is the idea behind the installation", says João Ó.
Decrepit and decadent Hong Kong, but also irreverent and extravagant, in a production highly punctuated by neon representing the city’s younger generation, Wing Shya presents his "Sweet Sorrow" series, of which part is on display in "Alter Ego". "This is a new series about the new generation in Hong Kong, this new generation that is always on the phone and online", Pauline Foessel explains.