News from Angola – It is frenetic in nature. For Hélder Garcia, it is necessary to give movement to the static, because the Luanda he lives and portrays is an immense chaos of jostling.
The young hyper-realist and winner of the Art category of the Tigra Nova Garra 2022 Awards is once again the protagonist of a cultural initiative supported by the brand, the exhibition “For a New Tomorrow”, which opens today at the Jahmek Contemporary Art gallery, at Hotel Globo .
By: NA
In recent days, Hélder Garcia has been trying to distract himself. He tries not to think too much about the moment “For a New Tomorrow” opens its doors at the Jahmek gallery. “It’s my first exhibition as an artist. Since I started producing, five years ago, I only published my works on social media and received some tips. But now I will see for the first time, face to face, people’s reactions to my work, hear their comments. It’s all going to be very real and that makes me a little anxious,” he reveals, with a “happy” smile.
The path to arriving at Hotel Globo began last May, when Hélder Garcia won the second edition of the Tigra Nova Garra Awards, in the Art category. The “impact on my life was immediate”, comments the young man who claims to be self-taught. “My first artistic experiences were with Tigra. Before the awards, I couldn’t even name five Angolan artists, I had never been to an art exhibition, I thought that in these shows there were only photography and painting and nothing else”.
The last few months have been “of discovery”. Participation in “For a New Tomorrow”, at the invitation of Meahk Vieira, Art judge at the Tigra Nova Garra Awards and co-founder of the Jahmek gallery, culminates a year “as important as it is unlikely”, he says. “In addition to being a unique opportunity for me, all the artists participating in the project work on a theme that is very much mine, that of the city of Luanda and our routines. I identified myself immediately.”
The young man’s participation in “For a New Tomorrow” is a partnership with Magno Daniel, photographer who, with Hélder Garcia and also Resem Verkron, Lilianne Kiame and Irene A’Mosi, forms the group that will be highlighted in the exhibition at Hotel Globo .
In this collaboration, he says, “we started with five black and white photographs of Magno, which illustrate the calm and peaceful look he has on the city”. “The challenge”, he explains, “was to give color to these images”. Inspired by the “frenetic Luanda” he lives in, “made up of pushing people to get into taxis or endless waiting in queues to access basic services”, the 26-year-old artist gave color to small elements of the original photograph, “a shadow , a dispersed element”, transforming them with the declared objective of “addressing issues that affect our society”.
By intervening in Magno Daniel’s work, Hélder Garcia wanted to “go beyond the purely contemplative look” and “create an element of connection with whoever sees the work”. “I’ve always had this need to connect with other people through art and project lives onto my canvases. My work is much more for others than for me. I don’t want to talk so much about how I feel, but about the change I can bring about.”
Explode heads
In the exercise about “the new tomorrow” that is the exhibition “For a New Tomorrow”, the young man from Zango knows exactly where he wants to position himself. “My collective consciousness, which starts from the individual, is formed on the streets, in conversations with friends and acquaintances”, he comments. And what he’s been hearing lately doesn’t please him at all. “There is a growing feeling among young people that ‘when I can, I’ll take my things, leave for another country and never come back’.” “I understand the difficulties that exist,” he says, “but I really expect much more from our youth.” “No matter where we are, here, abroad, we cannot give up, our contribution is fundamental. As far as I am concerned, I want to help my country, I want to see my country better, if not for me it will be for my children. That’s what I hope for as a person and an artist.”
The path of this “social, more than cultural intervention” that he hopes to encourage with his work has been launched. The exhibition “For a New Tomorrow” will give Hélder Garcia a “collective protagonism” that finally puts him on an important, but not always patient, circuit. “One of the biggest difficulties I have in my work is that hyper-realistic paintings can take months to make,” he explains. “As I still have few works, it doesn’t make sense to present myself alone, and at an early stage in a career, when we need visibility, this can be harmful. In this sense, this opportunity to participate in a collective exhibition is essential to consolidate my journey”.
While he anxiously waits for people’s reactions to his raw works, he is already preparing the next work with which he will try to surpass what he considers “the most beautiful work” he has ever done and which made him known on social media – “Chaos” , a portrait of Luanda on a rainy day (painting, video and audio, media he uses simultaneously in his pieces). “But this time it will be something different”, he says. “Next year, I’m going to bring something that, get ready, will blow your mind!” The warning has been made.