Adventurous Times on the Island of Good Fortune
Adventurous Times on the Island of Good Fortune is an exhibition that ought to be perceived in different ways. At first it may refer to the exploitation of Africans and indigenous people during the Portuguese colonization in Brazil. Secondly, as a kind of representation of the first inhabitants on the Island of Good Fortune: the indigenous people, and Africans after 1500.
Much has already been said about slavery and the slave trade. There are many articles explaining and describing the horrors occurred on the Island of Good Fortune legally from about 1501 to 1889.
My aim with this show is to encourage people to stand up against this dehumanizing discrimination. Slavery and the slave trade have always existed and exist even now; it is powered by casting aside individual rights, placing people in an inferior legal and social position, and denying their humanity. It is the supreme act of discrimination. Anger at this inhumanity is a central feature of the show; but the exhibition examines other social and cultural issues in a creative way.
Art is a platform for discussion. Artworks are vehicles through which a subject can be discussed. So, the point here in this exhibition is to not only to feel sorrow for the misfortunes those seen in these paintings but more to acknowledge their fate and eliminate the prejudices that have been imposed on them. A central expression I have chosen to use is to leave untouched the personal features of the subjects, but to contrast them with a bright background and white flowers.
These white flowers act as a symbolic metaphor for freedom and against discrimination. The images are intentionally placed behind glass; this ritual act transforms the artefacts into objects of admiration.
Throughout history, events tend to repeat themselves; the adventure on this particular island was not right, but many followed the flow. Bearing it in mind, we invite you to join us and wear a white flower attached to your clothes as a way to remember those who were forced into the Adventurous Times on the Island of Good Fortune.
Régis Gonçalves
Régis Gonçalves was born in Brazil, and now lives and works in The Netherlands. Gonçalves received his B.A from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and M.F.A. from the University of Amsterdam; and has exhibited at innumerable galleries. His works are included in numerous private and public collections including most recently the Rechtbank Amsterdam and the Flevo Ziekenhuis in Almere.
