Title: "N’WE Collective"
Curator: Inês Valle
Artists: Binelde Hyrcan, Mário Macilau, Pauliana Valente Pimentel, Ricardo Teles and Abraão Vicente.

Dates: 21/04 – 06/05/2016
Venue: the CERA PROJECT, London (UK)
Support: Portuguese, Embassy, Brazil Embassy, Instituto Camões, Mira Forúm, Tafeta Art Gallery, Art Dispersion.

Link for the exhibition leaflet PDF

Binelde Hyrcan, shocked by the images of war in his youth, saw the real consequences of political decisions. It is in this mix, between the vision of a present living world in front of him and the dramatic effects of some abstract political decisions, that the artist caught this indelible image. Hyrcan expresses himself in a full range of artistic media: sculpture, painting, design, video-art, photography and performance. He has exhibited widely across the globe, from his first exhibition in 2008, three times Two movements in Paris, to the 2nd Luanda Triennial in 2010, ‘No Fly Zone’ at the Museu Coleção Berardo in 2013 and the Angolan Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition — la Biennale di Venezia in 2015 (Italy).

Pauliana Valente Pimentel was born in Lisbon, the city where she still lives, but she is working all around the world. As a freelance photographer, she has been producing photo reportages since 1999 for various Portuguese and foreign magazines and newspapers. In 2005 she took part in the photography course of the Gulbenkian Creativity and Artistic Creation Program. She belongs to the [Kameraphoto] collective since 2006. Besides her participation in collectively authored books, she produced her own first book ‘VOL I’ in 2009, published by Pierre Von Kleist and ‘ Caucase, Souvenirs de Voyage’ in 2011 by Gulbenkian Foundation. Fillmography: “Diz-se que Portugal é um bom país para se viver”, Portugal 2011; “Jovens de Atenas / Youth of Athens”, Greece, 2012; “Entre Nous”, Portugal, France, 2014. In 2015 she received an award from the Portuguese Authors Society - Visual Arts - The best photographic work of the year, with the work “The Passenger”. She already exhibits in several European countries, but also outside, such as the USA, China, Africa (Morocco and Cape Vert) and Turkey. Part of her work belongs to institutional and private collections.

Ricardo Teles was born in Porto Alegre and has been living and working in the city of São Paulo since 1994 in the areas of photojournalism. He was an independent photographer for the Estado group (Estado agency and “O Estado de Sao Paulo” and “Jornal da Tarde” newspapers) between 1994 and 2000. Most recently he has been more involved with corporate work, with focus in the Brazilian manufactory industry and environmental and social projects, in addition to personal projects. He’s also a contributor of photographic agency FOCUS in Hamburg, Germany. From the several awards and nominations we can highlight: “Martius Staden Award” granted by Martius Staden Foundation for the publication of the book Saga, due to its cultural relevancy and promotion of better relations between Germany and Brazil (1999); Grand Prize Ayrton Senna of Journalism with the essay titled “Os Dois Brasis” by Carta Capital magazine (2003); nominated by Conrad Wessel Awards Foundation in the category most original with the essay Encantados (2010) and A Estrada (2011); First prize in New Holland’s Photojournalism Awards  (2013); First Prize at the Sony Awards in Category Travel, offered by the WPO (World Press Organization) (2014) and Third Prize at POY LATAM (2015). Several institutions have acquired his artworks as MASP/Pirelli and Assis Chateaubriand of MAM in São Paulo.

Mário Macilau was born in Maputo, where he currently lives and works. In newly independent Mozambique, during the most critical phase of the civil war, his family struggled with financial difficulties and moved from the province of Inhambane to Maputo capital in search of a better life. At the age of ten, he began to work in a small market frequented by the middle / upper class and helping to carry the groceries and washing cars at the park in an effort to support his family. Macilau started his journey as photographer in 2003 and went professional when he traded his mother’s cell phone for his first camera in 2007, he specializes in long term projects that focus on living and environmental conditions over time that affect the socially isolated groups.  His work has been recognised with awards and featured regularly in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in his home country and abroad.

Abraão Vicente was born on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde. Studied sociology at Universidade Nova of Lisbon, focusing his thesis about how it was the construction of the artistic field in Portugal during the 20th century. Among several solo and collective exhibitions, he was also the artistic programed of the Experimental Art Space Miscelânea in Barcelona. In parallel, with his artistic practice (photography and painting) Vicente has been publishing several publications as: “O Trampolim” (Romance, Kankan Studio ed. 2010), “E de repente a noite” (Poetry, Kankan Studio ed. 2012), “Traços Rosa Choque (Chronicles, Lua de Marfim 2012), “1980 Labirintos” (Poetry, Lua de Marfim 2013), “Amar100 Medo, cartas improváveis & outras letras” (Poetry, Kankan Studio, 2014). Part of Vicente’s work belongs to several institutional and private collections.

Inês Valle

Please click here to access the Press Release (only in English)