30.10.24 until 02.11.25

The exhibition ‘Deconstructing Colonialism, Decolonising the Imaginary. Portuguese Colonialism in Africa: Myths and Realities’ will be on display to the public in the largest temporary exhibition room of the National Museum of Ethnology between 30 October 2024 and 2 November 2025.

The exhibition, co-organised by the National Museum of Ethnology (Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, E.P.E.) and the Centre for African and Development Studies CEsA (Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, UL), takes place in the context of the Museum’s priority to study the provenance of its extra-European collections and to reflect on the colonial context in which the museum was founded and its first collections were gathered, seeking to involve the public and communities in the appreciation and dissemination of their own cultures.

Conceived and coordinated by historian Isabel Castro Henriques, the exhibition aims to present the outlines of Portuguese colonialism in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. It aims to deconstruct the myths created by colonial ideology, decolonise Portuguese imagery and contribute, in an educational and accessible way, to a renewal of knowledge about the Portuguese colonial question.

Two central axes structure the exhibition’s narrative. The first axis is organised in thematic panels, in which text and image are articulated, highlighting the outlines of Portuguese colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and giving the word to historical knowledge. The second axis aims to ‘make African works of art speak’, as material evidence of African thought and culture, highlighting the organisational complexity of the social and cultural systems of these societies, making it possible to show African creativity, vitality, wisdom, rationality, identity diversity and skills, and helping to highlight and deconstruct the falsifying nature of Portuguese colonial myths. 

This second axis of the exhibition is formed by a selection of 139 works, divided between the collections of the National Museum of Ethnology, including some pieces on deposit from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the collector Francisco Capelo, and works of contemporary African art by the artists Lívio de Morais, Hilaire Balu Kuyangiko and Mónica de Miranda.

Conducted as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the 25 April Revolution, this project is the result of the work carried out by a team of around thirty researchers who collaborated on it, as well as the indispensable contribution of many national and foreign entities, who provided the profuse iconographic documentation presented in the explanatory panels around which the exhibition’s narrative is developed.

The exhibition’s Executive Committee is chaired by Isabel Castro Henriques and includes Inocência Mata, Joana Pereira Leite, João Moreira da Silva, Luca Fazzini and Mariana Castro Henriques, and its Scientific Committee, also chaired by Isabel Castro Henriques, is made up of 20 members, including António Pinto Ribeiro, Aurora Almada Santos, Elsa Peralta, Isabel do Carmo and José Neves.

The museography, installation and presentation to the public of all the works in the National Museum of Ethnology’s collections was carried out by the Museum’s own team, which also ensured the production of the exhibition, with the collaboration of the team from Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, E.P.E. The Communication and Exhibition Project was developed by P 06 studio.

The parallel programme to be developed between 2024 and 2025 as part of this project includes a travelling exhibition, exclusively for documentational purposes, which will be shown in schools and cultural centres in Portugal, as well as in various Portuguese-speaking areas in Africa and Brazil. Also in 2024, as part of this parallel programme, a film cycle entitled “Cinema and Decolonisation” will take place, with screenings of films related to the post-colonial reality, at ISEG and the National Museum of Ethnology, and other scientific activities are planned, namely Conferences and Colloquia, also in partnership with other entities.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a book of the same name, published by Edições Colibri, expanding the various themes covered in the exhibition by the researchers who collaborated on the project.