OS NACIONALISTAS

The association is situated in the Angolan capital of Luanda, where the main part of the country’s art commerce takes place. This is due to the presence of rich foreigners and well-to-do Angolans. However, the artists in the town are not able to earn any big money, and the art circles in Luanda seem to be isolated from the surrounding reality, where most of the people lack the possibility to satisfy even their smallest needs.

 

Os Nacionalistas is an artist group with headquarters in the Elinga Theatre. Compared to other gallery spaces in Luanda, the Elinga Theatre seems nice and stimulating. Usually, the exhibitions are held in normal galleries or in hotels. An exhibition in a luxury hotel will certainly attract the circles of the well-to do, but it will never offer the same kind of openness and feeling that the Elinga Theatre does.

 

At the Elinga there is a gallery space that is sometimes used for capoeira and dance. There are also a few studios for the artists, but many members of Os Nacionalistas work at home or in other studios. The special spirit and life of Elinga really gets started in the evening, after work, when artists and their friends gather in the theatre to talk and have a good time together.

 

The works of the Os Nacionalistas’ artists reflect a certain expressivity and unevenness inspired by the street life. In Angola there is also a group of so called airport artists, who produce a lot of traditional paintings, one after another, mostly for tourists. That kind of art is found at the art market of Benefica, and in other places frequented by foreigners. These works are well done, but the artists often create the same painting over and over again, without variation. This serial production makes it less important to look for new things, at the same time as the personality and the creative power is left aside.

 

When the ship Estelle visited Angola and offered some cargo space, there was the unique possibility to bring Angolan art to Finland. The art that was transported to Finland is created on the conditions of artists themselves and it is based on their own experiences - it is not produced in order to please the art circles or tourists of Luanda.

 

The Elinga Theatre and Os Nacionalistas have achieved economical support from the Italian embassy, among others, and parts of the income made on the sold paintings go directly to the common needs of the art centre. For income from the paintings that were sold to Etnokult ry new lighting arrangements and equipment were installed in the theatre. The artists complain that the biggest money problem in their work is due to the acquisition of materials. Because of materials being so expensive and difficult to obtain in Angola, there has been a request for consignment from Finland.

 

Centre Culturel Elinga

Chairman: Mena Abranches

Largo Tristao da Cunha 17

Rua Amilcar Cabral

Luanda R. Angola

 

UNAP

Since 1977 there is a union for artists called Uniâo Nacional Artistas Plasticos, UNAP, functioning in Benguela. The aim of the union is to represent its members and defend their interests as well as to promote the position of visual arts and the Angolan culture in general. The headquarters and the gallery spaces of UNAP are situated in Luanda/Benguela, but its members are found all over the country.

 

The spaces of this organisation are a mixture of gallery, office and studio. Here you can find, among others, José António Junior (Ducho), Manuel Grando (Manilson), and José Delgado Gomez. In Benguela there is no active gallery functioning at this moment. In the port town of Lobito nearby, there is a livelier art commerce thanks to the amount of travellers passing by, but the galleries mostly exhibits only the works of local artists. Because of this lack of art movement, many artists have moved from Benguela to Luanda where there are more possibilities. In Benguela, the prices of the paintings are considerably lower than in Luanda. Ducho and José do not earn enough from their paintings only, and they increase their income by making signs and wall paintings. Manilson’s work as a teacher in visual arts gives him a regular income, even if this is most modest.

 

Office: Largo Rainha Zinga # 29-33

P.O. Box 5985

Luanda R. de Angola

Tel: (Antonio Tomas Ana, the director of UNAP) +244 923 11 509/ +244 9124 5370

E-mail: etonaa@yahoo.com

 

CENTRE CULTUREL ETONA A LUANDA

“Etona” is a new project of the director of UNAP, Antonio Tomas Ana, and the culture center is at the moment waiting for participants actioners. Place to hold art exhibitions etc.

 

Island of Luanda

Tel:+ 244 923 11 509 / + 244 9124 5370

E-mail: muzabakani@excite.com , etonaa@yahoo.com

 

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, MINISTERIO DA EDUCACAO

 

Avenida Comandante Gika C.P. 1223

Luanda, Angola

Tel: + 244 2 32 1218

Fax: + 244 2 32 1592

 

MINISTRY OF CULTURE, MINISTERIO DA CULTURA

 

Avenida Comandante Gika C.P. 1223

Luanda, Angola

Tel: + 244 2 322 051/ 323-979

 

CELAMAR, GALLERY OF ART

Collaborates with many kinds of foreign art organizations

 

Ilha de Luanda (Island of Luanda)

Rua Mortala Mohamed

Luanda R. Angola

 

GALLERY CENARIUS

One of the most notable art galleries in Luanda.

 

On the road behind the Ministry of Defense in the Cidade Alta right after the petrol station

Chairman: Isabel Baptista 

 

Angola - Information about the Country and Its History

 

ADMINISTRATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

 

Capital: Luanda (4 million inhabitants)

 

Other major urban centres: Huambo, Benguela, and Lubango

 

Airports: 14

 

Important ports: Luanda, Lobito, Namibe

 

Roads: 72,323 km, of which only 8,317 km have good surface and 60 % need to be maintained

 

Railways: Benguela (810 miles), Luanda (334 miles), Namibe (563 miles)

 

Legislation and administration: Parliament with 220 members; President Jose Eduardo dos Santos

 

Currency: Kwanza (kzr)

 

Religions: Traditional local religions 47 %, Roman-Catholics 38 %, Protestants 15 %

 

History

The oldest signs of human life have been found in the southern parts of Africa. The area that today is called Angola has been inhabited by hunting and collecting tribes for hundreds of thousands of years. This was proved by the pre-historic findings made in the valleys of Luanda, Congo and Namibia. In southern Angola the tribes of KhoiSan have conserved and still use some of their historical objects, such as stone cups and digging sticks.

In the 6th century some Bantu tribes started to wander into Angola from the north. These people lived from agriculture and knew how to make metal objects and ceramics. When the Portuguese arrived in Angola in 1482, they named the land after the N’gola-named leaders of the Kimbundu tribe, which were ruling the Ndongo area. During the following centuries the white men transported more than four million slaves from Angola to South America and Europe.

 

The armed forces that the white men brought with them were quickly spread over what today is northern Angola, in the Kingdom of Congo. The leader Nzinga Nkuwu had asked the Portuguese Crown for technical assistance in exchange for ivory and other objects. Nkuwu was later converted into Christianity and he himself started selling slaves and minerals to the Christians. After 30 years of slavery the leader of Congo wrote a letter to the Portuguese king in order to make him stop the slavery - but in vain. The missionaries built the big slave harbour of Luanda, and it became the administrative centre of Angola. The allied Kimbundu tribes fought against the Europeans during more than 150 years. But the Portuguese took more and more slaves to Brazil, and after having defeated the mistress Jinga they conquered even more land, now in the southern parts where they built one more slave harbour, Benguela. More than one million slaves died in the inhuman transports over the ocean. The tribes that were living near the shore of Benguela soon began trading slaves from other tribes, and this resulted in bitterness, anger, and, later, war between the tribes.

 

When slavery was officially abolished in 1856, the Portuguese found another, unofficial way to keep up the same system. They forced the Angolans to pay huge taxes although this was impossible for them and punished the non-payers with forced labour. Some years later the great powers of Europe divided Africa between themselves, and Angola was declared a colony of the Portuguese Crown. All the rich kingdoms of the area were united and expected to exist as one limited part of the colony. The colonialist legislation, which allowed forced labour, was not abolished until 1974. During that time the Angolan economy and administration was built upon an export production that made it impossible for the majority of the population to reach a stable and sufficient income.

 

In the 1950’s a strong opposition movement among the tribes developed. Its inspiration came from the Angolan writers and their catchphrase in the 1940’s: “Find Angola!” This movement used armed forces to reach independence, and the colonial war started in 1961. There were also other freedom movements, the most important were MPLA, UNITA, and FNLA, which all fought together for independence. But after the fall of the fascist government in Portugal in 1974 when all the Portuguese colonies were given up, these three big Angolan movements found themselves divided, each of them representing a different ideology, each with different uniforms.

 

Next came the civil war. The MPLA was Marxist and therefore supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba. The USA helped FNLA and UNITA. Also South-Africa, China, North Korea, France, and Zaire were involved in this war in one way or another. It was not until the beginning of the 1990’s that the big powers stopped supporting the different parts in the war. In 1992 the first open and honest elections were held in Angola. MPLA won both the Parliamentary and the Presidential elections, but when the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, did not accept the victory of MPLA, the war started once again. The UN later accused UNITA of being responsible for the continuing civil war in Angola. However, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations report that also the government’s forces are responsible for serious crimes against the human rights, such as executions and recruitment of minors. In February 2002 UNITA suffered great losses and also their leader Savimbi was killed. It was not until then that the peace negotiations could get another start.

 

Angola today

After half a century of colonialism and wars, Angola is today one of the most distressed countries in the world. Most of the land is impossible to cultivate due to war and landmines. There are a high percentages of orphans, invalids and refugees. Because of the long-lasting war, more than 4 million people have been forced to abandon their homes and stay in refugee camps or city slums. Half of the population lack a steady income, basic education and homes with good sanitary conditions. In addition, floods have destroyed slums and huts, and as a consequence, serious epidemics ravage Angola. More than half of the Angolan women give birth without professional help or a hospital bed. This is a sign of the fact that over half of the population have no access to basic medicines. One and a half million Angolans live on foreign food supply. On the UN list over human development, Angola is placed on 18th place, from the bottom. Angola is also one of the most landmined areas in the world, and because of the 10-20 million landmines and countless other explosives in the countryside, it is impossible to cultivate the land in many areas.

 

The artisans used to get most of their income from tourists, but the war has naturally caused a decreasing number of foreigners in the country. The local markets offer very few possibilities to maintain a rich artisan tradition. In the countryside people, of course, produce objects for their own use, but the Angolan lifestyle is getting more and more influenced Western massproduction. In the big cities, the main source of income for those who have moved in from the countryside, is based on trading foreign products between themselves. trading is also done with those who have earned something on the oil and diamond business. The unofficial sector of the economy consists of unregistered private companies that sell and buy from each other. This part of the economy has become so important that one form of development aid for Angola is helping women getting started with buying and selling businesses.