Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to discuss how artistic practice can be combined with literature and theory to create new epistemologies from the South in the arts through the analysis of works from African artists in the 35th São Paulo Biennial.

Paper long abstract:

On the third floor of the 35th São Paulo Biennial, we can see a space with clay pots in different forms and colors, each one with a phrase in multiple languages; they are on top of white columns at sight height, M’Barek Bouchichi uses poetry and traditional pottery to invite us to his world, in multiple languages from both continents. When we go down one floor, we are faced with a sand-toned space. Rugs in different hues of beige and brown, benches in a circular form, and small colored booklets sitting on them for us to read. On the wall nearby, there are phrases about monoculture. We are invited to sit and talk. Nadir Bouhmouch and Soumeya Ait Ahmed in their work intend to use the printed word to maintain memory, and the booklets are made in traditional Brazilian form, as cordeis. The word has an important role in both works; it invites us to understand different points of view from South America and Africa around issues of art, nature, and human. Artistic practice, bell hooks would say, can be a means to change history or at least to change how we perceive ourselves. I aim to discuss how word, practice, and theory in both works are intertwined, dismissing the usual Western ideas of separation in favor of multiple universals (DIAGNE, 2017).