EXHIBITION
LANDS THAT SHINE – Exhibition of photographic collections from the former Diamang

 

Eleven panels and 55 photographs make up the itinerary of the exhibition LANDS THAT SHINE. Most likely, the viewer, upon seeing/reading the images, will be surprised by the luminosity that emanates from them, which contradicts their expectation of observing old photographic images.

The photographs on display were reproduced from the negatives, carefully cleaned to eliminate marks of degradation, without any artifice, in order to restore the original image as perceived by contemporaries at the time.

The collection of the Diamang Photographic Archive, housed in the Nogueira da Silva Museum of the University of Minho, constitutes a unique historical collection of the colonial past of the Portuguese Empire, revealing the very early investment of the Diamang Company in the multidisciplinary field of photographic production.
The value of this collection is all the more significant since the capture of visual records was the exclusive prerogative of the technicians of the Diamang Photography Laboratory and its senior staff. Under these circumstances, the photographs reflect not the historical experience of those – Africans and Europeans – who inhabited Lunda, but rather the perspective dictated by the company’s administration’s vision up until Angola’s independence.

This exhibition serves as a preliminary introduction to the value of this extensive archive, composed of more than 30,000 photographs and negatives, which needs to be examined in terms of its preservation and dissemination.

 

Technical Sheet:
Fátima Moura Ferreira (University of Minho, Lab2PT/In2Past) & Duarte Belo
Maria João Ganga & Isilda Alves Coelho (Casa das Artes)
Fonseca Pequenino (Casa das Artes)
Marco Martins (Endiama)
Miguel Carlos (Casa das Artes)
Nadi Domingues (Endiama)
Nuno Coelho (Casa das Artes)
Paulo Cochat (Casa das Artes)
Sheila de Paiva (Endiama)

This initiative is part of the Research Project coordinated by Fátima Moura Ferreira (Lab2PT/In2Past) on the study and digital processing of the photographic collections of the Diamond Company, located at the Nogueira da Silva Museum (University of Minho) and the Braga District Archive.

This project is supported through the Multiannual Funding of the Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory (Lab2PT), Ref. UID/04509: Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory (Lab2PT/UM), funded by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/MCTES.

This exhibition was fully supported by Endiama and Casa das Artes.