Kapwani Kiwanga’s (Canada, 1978) exhibition at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, despite its rather descriptive title, Where salt and freshwater meet and crooked trees filter the sun, broadens the interpretative, receptive and experiential fields. One of the most important artists of her generation, the artist is rooted in theoretical research and a topical approach, but her work stretches beyond conceptual constraints, calling for a free and active spectatorship.

Kiwanga’s first solo show in Portugal questions and reflects on “how we tell things, how we speak, how we engage with the world using words“. But speech and language appear and are expressed as images and objects, working with communication to its utmost extent. The artist’s work is in fact communicative and also features multiple layers and dimensions.

As stated by Phillipe Vergne, Serralves Museum director, the artist takes a look at different narratives, particularly relating to modernity, especially the issue of form and matter. Kiwanga wonders how material and matter can become archives, which is the axis around which the exhibition emerges and is constructed. I would like to emphasise the archive’s importance today, both as an extension of the post-production trend, on which an important area of contemporary artistic endeavour is founded, as well as in recognising the importance of memory and the fact that we are partly the fruit of what has preceded us, both as individuals and as a society.

Kiwanga’s background lies in anthropology and the social sciences, as well as her experience in archival work. This has prompted her penchant and ability to approach historical narratives as they relate to and dialogue with contemporary realities. During her transition to the artistic field, the artist operated with the image, but soon left it in favour of working with the body, with much of her work being performative. She resisted using the material for years, but, as she points out, she was gradually overwhelmed by the urge to explore it, especially as a route out of the traditional techniques of the archive processing, such as representation. The result is a precious work, on a theoretical, formal and aesthetic level.

The exhibition in the museum’s main hall is divided into two sections, the first of which contains materials alluding to Portugal. The first material we find attests to the artist’s preference for natural fibres, namely rope. Countless rope braids and knots hang from the ceiling and are distributed throughout the room, setting up a physical and perceptual game. They relate to Portuguese history and culture, more specifically maritime and fluvial activity, shipbuilding and rope-making. Three other azulejo pieces draw on more national social and economic factors. From the latter material, the artist stresses that it comes from the land, an element she considers to be the foundation of everything, even ourselves.

Following this first section, the exhibition acquires an international reach and, as a large-scale installation entitled Threshold, Kiwanga offers us a glimpse of the world from the standpoint of Congo’s African communities. As she explains, different cultures and societies perceive the world, place themselves in it and relate to it in their own way. Meanwhile, each of us holds an individual perspective on our surroundings, even if it is more or less shaped by external influences. And the way we position ourselves and, as a result, perceive the world is not static – rather, it is constantly in flux, if not constantly changing. The very action of walking around the installation in the museum gallery proves that, according to the site and perspective adopted, the same object is perceived, interpreted and experienced in various ways. The work itself seems to take on new shapes. The positioning of both the observer and the observed is precisely at the core of this aesthetic experience and the theoretical question that led to it.

As an artistic object, whilst the piece is shown as an image of the world, it distances itself from the world map. This deviation is particularly accentuated by the work’s geometric and abstract arrangement, made up of lines, wooden spheres and laminated steel tubes. The latter allude to the four iron axes supporting the Earth in Angola’s Bakongo cosmogony. The purple surrounding the entire installation on wooden panels as a frame depicts the night and, although this is a deep, dark colour, it stands out from the black normally applied to represent utter darkness. Contrasting this is the white of the small stones forming the installation’s surface, which in turn is pierced by lines that are sometimes black, sometimes white and sometimes mirror-like.

The relationship with the outside is also highlighted. This room, featuring a large window designed by architect Álvaro Siza Vieira, is bathed in light that shines down on Kiwanga’s work in an inebriating way. As the day progresses, this effect also mutates, blanketing and revealing the work, travelling along its entire span. Kiwanga aimed exactly to develop a mesmerising and contemplative installation, inviting people to stop, think and reflect critically. It has therefore turned into a place for deep aesthetic appreciation.

Kiwanga’s artistic career has already taken a turn for the better, with the 2020 Marcel Duchamp prize, her appearance at last year’s Venice Biennale and her return to the latter’s next edition, representing Canada. Just as Philippe Vergne believes, witnessing and experiencing Kiwanga’s artistic output up close is a privilege.

The same way that salt and water come together and bond, we are intercepted, tainted and carried away by the artist’s work. However, the sun is not filtered in this case. On the opposite: the artist illuminates, sheds light on and debates the world and art, as well as, to a certain extent, the human condition itself.

Where salt and freshwater meet and crooked trees filter the sun by Kapwani Kiwanga is on show at the Serralves Museum until 2 June, 2024.