Path to the Stars

“all sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story and tell a story about it”

Isak Dinesen

“Path to the Stars” brings together a new set of works by Mónica de Miranda, an artist whose interdisciplinary practice investigates convergences between politics, identity, gender, memory and place, as well as the complexities of identity construction within her own geographies of affection. The multidisciplinary project is articulated around three complementary research axes: continuities and discontinuities of history, creating a parallel between the liberation struggles in Africa and the struggles of the diaspora; the struggles of women throughout history and a reflection on the Anthropocene.

The exhibition is built around a central piece, the film “Path to the Stars”, shot along the Kwanza River, the longest in Angola and birthplace of the Ndongo kingdom. Through the vitality and strength of mother nature, an analogy is created between the body and the territory – the river is intrinsically related to the history of the Atlantic, with the territory being the first body to be penetrated by the colonists in search of material riches. As past, present and future converge in Kwanza, water appears as a material that unites all animate and inanimate beings in sharing the consequences of their actions, intertwining social, cultural, capital and geophysical flows.

At a time when humanity faces several challenges, such as increased discrimination, wars and ecological disasters, Mónica de Miranda opens significant discussions about belonging. In its broader proposal of historical review, the project proposes a place of transposition and reinvention of personal and cultural identity, and creates an opportunity to share and seek future directions through creative reflection and imagination.