Maputo: A Tale of One City

The exhibition co-curated by Bisi Silva from Nigeria, Marianne Hultmann and Daniella van Dijk-Wennberg both from Norway attempts to highlight the way in which artists explore and articulate the realities, histories, identities, energy and complexity of Maputo, a city that has been chosen as a curatorial reference point for this exhibition.  Maputo is a city where old and new goes hand in hand. The colonial past is still very visible in the cities’ landscape and at the same time new buildings are erupting and being abandoned. The city is a port city where international influences fluctuate in and out. This process of exchange is very visible in the contemporary art scene of Maputo.  

The exhibition which is in the South and East Galleries explores periods of unrest in Maputo that are not far from Dickens’ concerns in his book A Tale of Two Cities (1859). The book comments on a period of great unrest in Paris and London during the French Revolution. The story begins before the revolution, describing how the aristocracy misruled over the rest of the population. It continues with the subsequent rage of the people against their rulers and ends with the way in which some of the revolutionaries get corrupted. As many African cities, Maputo has also been subject to similar trials that impact on development. A closer look at some of the pictures by Angela Ferreira and Emeka Okereke reflect on these issues.