Contemporary art from Cape Verde comes to Casa África

Casa África shows in its exhibition halls a selection of paintings, photography, film and video art designed and made in Cape Verde, which confirms that there is a contemporary art scene in the archipelago, located off the coast of West Africa. The exhibition, called  Cape Verde Scene includes creations of three artists who are intellectuals and activists: Tchalè Figueira, Leão Lopes and Irineu Rocha da Cruz. The official opening of the exhibition took place yesterday afternoon and was attended by them. Cape Verde Scene arrives at Casa África to coincide with the main events of the International African Book Fair (SILA), held at the institution's headquarters. The SILA is precisely dedicated to Cape Verde in this fifth edition. The exhibition is sponsored by Binter Canarias, an airline connecting the Canary Island and Cape Verde archipelagoes and thanks to which this exhibition has been able to be staged.

Cape Verde Scene is a project designed for Casa África and curated by Orlando Britto Jinorio, which presents the work of three artists who have played and play a key role in the development and construction of the contemporary art scene in Cape Verde. The exhibition brings together six large format acrylic paintings on canvas by Tchalè Figueira, on which the artist has worked over the past year and are examples of his particular pictorial and poetic creative universe that mixes mythology with the past and present of the African archipelago. Leãlo Lopes is represented by a selection of portraits and landscapes photographed between 2007 and 2011 and by his film Bitu, dedicated to the Cape Verde painter of the same name. Finally, Ireneu Rocha da Cruz, the youngest of the three, shows a selection of photographs from his series The Perimeter, dating d between 2009 and 2011, and two of the video creations of his series Immersions, dated 2012.  Britto in this exhibition highlights the versatility of Tchalè Figueira,  who does not focus creativity only in paintings but diversifies through literary creation; the value of Leão Lopes as a master filmmaker in the documentary genre with an extensive and proven track record, and his links to the University Institute of Arts, Technology and Design of Mindelo (M_EIA), and conceptual depth of the work of Ireneu Rocha da Cruz, with a vast and in depth training in the fields of visual arts and philosophy and theory of art.