Ângela Ferreira: Boca

Ângela Ferreira examines the social and political history of territories through the prism of art and architecture. In her works, she mainly explores Europe’s complex relations with the African continent, making use of stories and references from modernist architecture, its displacement and its adaptation in Africa. She reconsiders its forms, its language, conveys its failures through composite installations mixing photography, films and sculptures, questioning the utopias to which architecture itself has given rise.

For the CRP/, she is building upon her projects on Africa’s mining industry and its devastating social and political consequences, like Stone Free (2012) or Entrer Dans la Mine (2013), by developing artistic research linked to mining in the Hauts-de-France region, to its disappearance and its contemporary social and cultural manifestations. The exhibition Boca will present sculptures inspired both by the region’s steel mine structures and by objects and instruments of the miners’ band of Douchy-les-Mines. These will be combined with photographic documents and sound memories of the miners’ bands of Nord, as well as films dedicated to the miners’ band.

“In France my curiosity focused on the process of the demise of the mining industry. The resulting new social and economic landscape as well as the physical environment intrigued me....‘Boca Fosse’ was my logical choice as it is situated in the town of Douchy-les-Mines. The history of the town and the mine are one and the same. The ‘Harmonie’ is part of the heritage that comes directly out of the mines and still operates today. Unlike the local landscape which is largely transformed, this musical institution survives. Its rehearsal space also houses the archive of the Harmonie and served as inspiration for this new series of works entitled 'Boca,' 2016.”
–Ângela Ferreira

Ângela Ferreira was born in Mozambique where she grew up before moving to South Africa and then Portugal, where she lives today. Her sensitive and politically engaged perspective developed through her identity oscillation between Africa and Portugal, which enabled her to adopt a dual point of view, offering us a never-unequivocal vision of these countries’ contemporary issues.

Curated by Muriel Enjalran, CRP/ director

About the CRP/
Based in Douchy-les-Mines, the CRP/ develops art centre missions in the field of photography and contemporary images. Its activities include creative support, research, production, distribution and mediation, all of which is developed in a region that is marked by its industrial past, an area that showed a very early commitment to culture.

The CRP/ is one of the few art centres endowed with a collection that currently contains 9,000 works, with an art library offering the public over 300 works that may be borrowed. Linked to its significant publication activity, it also has a document collection of over 8000 books.

The CRP/’s artistic and cultural vision, championed by its current director Muriel Enjalran, endeavours to be forward-looking, encouraging young artists through its research and support mission. It is regionally rooted while also giving attention to other art scenes abroad, through invitations to artists who come and shift or renew visitors’ perceptions of their history and region, and provide access to other cultural and societal issues in the world.