This exhibition is presented as part of Tending Land, a program marking the 40th anniversary of the Digital Arts Resource Centre (DARC), and bringing together several artists from around the world, whose works relate narratives about the ways in which land may be perceived, connected with, and cared for. The program honours the fact that questions concerning land and sovereignty are of particular significance in Canada, where traditional territories have been expropriated by the settler-colonial state, and historic treaties around Indigenous Peoples’ land rights were often reneged upon. The exhibition also draws links to the centrality of land in the struggles of many communities around the world, especially the global majority who have experienced colonialism in various guises, and who continue to endure its troubling aftermath today.
(Other) Foundations* traces a journey between Brazil and West Africa, on which the artist embarked in a quest to discover her family’s origins. In this contemplative work, Aline Motta raises questions about belonging to ancestral homelands, especially when the bond to those terrains was violently severed due to enslavement and forced displacement. The work equally examines the fraught relationship with the terrains where descendants of enslaved people find themselves, navigating a freedom that is all too recent, weighed down by oppression that has lasted multiple generations. Combining footage capturing scenes from Rio de Janeiro, Lagos, and other cities linked to the influential African Yoruba culture, as well as installations, music, and the artist’s reflections, the work is a poetic and open-ended letter addressed to land, and specifically water surfaces. Lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans are presented here as mirrors that evoke the ties and parallels between places, communities, and experiences across time. Underlying the work is the proposition that, instead of longing for the fictions of solid pedigrees and national affiliations, there are alternative foundations that are fluid, connecting both here and there.
Tending Land is curated by Amin Alsaden.
–
Aline Motta (1974 – Niterói, RJ/Brazil) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Aline earned a bachelor degree in Communication Studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a Certificate in Film Production at the New School University/New York. She combines different techniques and artistic practices, merging photography, video, installation, performance, sound art, collage, and textile materials. She recently participated in groundbreaking exhibitions such as “Feminist Histories: artists after 2000” – São Paulo Art Museum/MASP, “Afro-Atlantic Histories” – MASP / Tomie Ohtake, “When the world changes”- Centro Cultural Kirchner, Buenos Aires, Argentina and “Rethink everything”, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France. Her solo exhibition “Aline Motta: memory, journey and water” opened at the Rio Art Museum/MAR in 2020. In 2021, her video work was exhibited at the New Museum (NY) as part of the “Screen Series” program.
–
* Aline Motta, (Outros) Fundamentos ((Other) Foundations), 2017-19. Video, colour, sound, 15:48 mins. Tofin, Yoruba, and Brazilian Portuguese, with English subtitles.
Camera, Direction, Scriptwriting, Editing, Soundtrack: Aline Motta
Additional Camera (Rio de Janeiro footage): Danilo do Carmo
Recording Studio and Mixing: Ori Lab (Caê Rolfsen and Bruno Prado)
Musician: Bruno Prado
Additional Soundtrack (“Ogum”): Bruno Prado
Singer: Lenna Bahule
Music Production and Sound Editing: Pedro Santiago
Color Grading: Caetano Brenga Bitencourt
Featuring: Joceane Soares, Jamiu Jimoh, Ajarat Jimoh, Jani and Shoyumi.
