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Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _____________________________ ______________ Delinda Collier Date Art in a State of Emergency: Figuring Angolan Nationalism, 1953-2007 By Delinda Collier Doctor of Philosophy Art History Department _________________________________________ Sidney Littlefield Kasfir, Ph.D. Advisor _________________________________________ C. Jean Campbell, Ph.D. Committee Member _________________________________________ Clifton Crais, Ph.D. Committee Member Accepted: _________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ___________________ Date Art in a State of Emergency: Figuring Angolan Nationalism, 1953-2007 By Delinda Collier M.A., Arizona State University, Tempe, 2004 Advisor: Sidney L. Kasfir, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History 2010 Abstract Art in a State of Emergency: Figuring Angolan Nationalism, 1953-2007 By Delinda Collier This dissertation is a genealogy of a book about the Chokwe wall murals in Angola, Paredes Pintadas da Lunda. Written in 1953 by Portuguese anthropologist José Redinha, the book compiles a set of images taken from Chokwe habitations in the Lunda North province of northeastern Angola. The globally disseminated book compiled three years of Redinha’s research on the murals, just one subject of his extensive research among the Chokwe in his long tenure at the diamond company Companhia de Diamantes de Angola [Diamang]. Redinha copied the wall murals in the Chitato district of the Lunda province in watercolor and then signed each of his prints. Within the book, each image accompanies a description and interpretation of the murals’ forms and composition. Since its publication in 1953, various artists have used this body of images in new artistic formats and under new political regimes. The dissertation begins with the Lunda Tchokwe project of the first Trienal de Luanda (2006-2007), which scanned every plate from Paredes Pintadas da Lunda. In order to contextualize the triennial’s use of Paredes Pintadas da Lunda, I revisit the moment of the book’s publication in 1953 by the mammoth diamond interest Diamang. I then discuss the use of Chokwe symbols by post- Independence Angolan artists, particularly Vitor Manuel “Viteix” Teixeira. I situate each of these three iterations within their ideological and material contexts in Angola. Specifically, I argue that an important component of the assertion of biopower in Angola has been the visual reification of the Chokwe murals and their component pictograms. The three projects I discuss all mobilize the Chokwe images for the nation-state, whether Portuguese or Angolan. I ultimately argue that these projects were not mere negotiations over the semantics of the Chokwe images, but more accurately, over their transmition through materialized networks. Art in a State of Emergency: Figuring Angolan Nationalism, 1953-2007 By Delinda Collier M.A., Arizona State University, Tempe, 2004 Advisor: Sidney L. Kasfir, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art History 2010 Acknowledgments It is difficult for me to properly acknowledge all of the people who have aided me in this project; there have been so many. Along with longtime colleagues and mentors, I have had fortuitous meetings and chance encounters with gracious individuals who have helped me in my research and intellectual inquiry. In Angola, I would like to thank Fernando Alvim and Cláudia Veiga at the Fundação Sindika Dokolo for their time and support. They generously opened their offices and records and shared their determination and excitement for the developing cultural scene in Angola. Secretary General of the União Nacional dos Artistas Plásticos, Sr. Bastos Galiano, was also generous with his thoughts and time. Dr. Américo Kwononoka was helpful with my questions about the Chokwe collection at the Museu Nacional de Antropologia. I would also like to thank the family of the late Vitor Manuel Teixeira for access to his archive and studio. On the logistical side, I would like to extend my deep gratitude to Rolf Mendelsohn for opening up his home to me, for helping me with various visa issues, and for taxiing me around Luanda while I picked his brain about wireless internet technology in Angola. To that end, I also thank Zaher Mroue for taking the time to make sure I was safe, fed, and mobile in Luanda during the time I was there. In Portugal, I thank Dr. Nuno Porto of the Universidade de Coimbra for his great help with the Diamang archive. His intimate knowledge of the documents was invaluable to me, as he could point out the exact location of files within filled storerooms if ever I had a specific question about the Dundo Museum and José Redinha. Thank you to the library and artist archive at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon. At Emory I would like to thank Dr. Sidney Kasfir for taking me on and allowing me total academic freedom to pursue a wide variety of interests. Thanks to Dr. James Meyer who gave valuable feedback in the early stages. Dr. Jean Campbell’s Mellon Dissertation Seminar in the summer of 2008 pushed me to formulate many of the key questions and issues of this dissertation. I extend my gratitude to Dr. Clifton Crais for his valuable input. Thank you to the Emory Art History Department graduate students, many of whom I consider my family today. This dissertation is dedicated to my sister, who passed away during the last stage of the dissertation process, and whose sudden absence changed my relationship to my work. May you have peace. We miss you. It is dedicated to my parents, who held it in when I told them I might have to couch surf in Luanda, who have never waivered in their support and love for me. To my siblings for their similar unwavering support and love. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my partner Jennifer. She skyped me through various crises in Angola, edited many drafts and fixed what turned out to be a systemic misuse of commas, and knew of the best hip hop to redirect the moments of frustration. Her love has sustained me through this entire process. Thank you. Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter One “Lunda Tchokwe” and the Contemporary Angolan State.………………………….21 Chapter Two Scientific Colonialism and Paredes Pintadas da Lunda……………………………... 62 Chapter Three From Sona to Sign: the signature and mimesis in Paredes Pintadas da Lunda……107 Chapter Four Viteix and the Chokwe Symbols After Independence………….......……………….141 Chapter Five Digital Lunda Tchokwe: biopower and protocol……………………………………196 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………...226 List of Figures 1. Page from Lunda Tchokwe online exhibition, a digitized image of Estampa 13 from José Redinha’s Paredes Pintadas da Lunda. 2. Page of José Redinha’s Paredes Pintadas da Lunda (1953) showing Estampa 13 and 13A. 3. Page from Paredes Pintadas da Lunda showing Estampa 9A. 4. Fernando Alvim, Untitled from the Memórias, Íntimas, Marcas, 1994-2000. 5. Carlos Garaicoa, performance view from site-specific filmed performance in the battleground of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, 1994-2000. 6. Jan van der Merwe, Soldier’s Bed 1998, from Memórias, Íntimas, Marcas, 1994- 2000. 7. Fernando Alvim, We Are All Post Exotics, 2004. 8. “Conceitos” page of the Trienal de Luanda website. 9. Offices of the Trienal de Luanda in March 2006. 10. SOSO Gallery space before, during and after renovation as photographed by N’Dilo Mutima, 2005. 11. Photograph by N’Dilo Mutima featured on the Trienal de Luanda website showing the opening of the SOSO Gallery. 12. Section of Unap building before and after renovation for a gallery space for the Trienal de Luanda. 13. Miquel Barceló, installation at Unap created in conjunction with workshop given to art students in Luanda, February 2007. 14. Figure representing the legendary hunter Chibinda Ilunga. 19th century. Collection: University of California San Diego. 15. Chokwe Pwo mask, early 20th century, Angola, Xassenge region. Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 16. Map of Angola showing Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, with Dundo and Cuilo on the norther border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. 17. Memorial dedicated to Ernesto de Vilhena in Dundo, Lunda North, Angola in 1969. 18. Image from Flagrantes showing a surgery being performed on a Diamang worker. 19. Two facing pages from Flagrantes da Vida na Lunda. 20. Page from Flagrantes da Vida na Lunda. 21. Page from Art Deocoratif Tchokwe by Marie-Louise Bastin (1961) with a legend of Chokwe symbols, their corresponding Chokwe names, and their French translations. 22. Unpublished photograph of the installation of wall murals inside the Museu do Dundo in 1953. 23. Page from Paredes Pintadas da Lunda showing a sampling of sona figures Redinha illustrates in the wall murals. 24. Jimu Kapandulula drawing the “Kampulu” sona. From Gerhard Kubik, Tusona— Luchazi Ideographs: a graphic tradition of West-Central Africa (Wien: Lit Verlag, 2006).