2022, 35’
Roman premiere
Foyer 1, Mattatoio, La Pelanda
The Kwanza River – among the longest rivers in Angola that flows into the Atlantic Ocean – provided a point of entry for the Portuguese invasion in 1482. As the site of numerous battles of resistance and a natural force in its own right, the river prominently features as an symbol of independence – Angola's currency Kwanza, is named after the river. Mónica de Miranda’s Path to the Stars (2022) revisits this legacy of anti-colonial resistance in Angola, inviting the audience on a journey through revolutionary history and futures-in-the-making. The title is taken from O Caminho das Estrelas (Path to the Stars) a 1953 poem by Agostinho Neto, a freedom fighter and the former president of Angola. Over the course of a single day, from sunrise to sunset, viewers follow the path of a heroine as she navigates the River. She confronts various avatars of her past – and of Angola’s struggle for independence from Portugal – along the way. This deeply poetic film traces lines of understanding about the meaning of stars. Miranda sheds light on the invisible and uncelebrated figures who took part in the struggle for Angolan independence – namely women – as well as the ecological resources they defended, especially the waterways that have borne witness to history, and continue to do so in the present.
Mónica de Miranda (b. 1976 in Porto) is a visual artist, filmmaker and researcher. Her interdisciplinary and research-based practice critically looks at the convergence of politics, gender, memory, space and history. Her work encompasses drawing, installation, photography, film and sound, on the boundaries between documentary and fiction. She is the founder of Hangar (2014), an art and research centre in Lisbon. As artist and co-curator of the project Greenhouse, Monica represents the Portugal Pavilion at the 60thVenice Biennale. Her work has been presented at major international events such as: 6th Lubumbashi Biennale; 12th Berlin Biennale; 12th Dakar Biennale; 5th Biennale Internationale de l’Art Contemporain de Casablanca; Bamako Encounters – 13th African Biennale of Photography; 14th Venice Architecture Biennale; BIENALSUR 2021; Houston FotoFest 2022; 18th Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia. Solo and group exhibitions have taken place at: CAIXA Cultural, Rio de Janeiro; Bildmuseet, Umeå; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; Gulbenkian, Lisbon; MUCEM, Marseille; AfricaMuseum, Tervuren; MAAT, Lisbon; MUAC, Mexico City; Barbican, London; Autograph, London; Frac pays de la Loire, Nantes; Uppsala Museum, Sweden; MNAC, Lisboa; Camões Cultural Institute, Luanda, among others. De Miranda lives and works in Lisbon, and Luanda.
Admission free while places last.
