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Paulo Nazareth

L'Arbre D'Oublier (Tree of Forgetting), 2013

Information

Location Gallery 1
Artist

Paulo Nazareth

*1977, Borun Nak, Brazil
Lives and works all over the world
Title L'Arbre D'Oublier (Tree of Forgetting), 2013
Medium Video with sound, 14:13 min.
Copyright

© Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Capetown / Johannesburg / Amsterdam
Exhibition number AW102

Audioguide

In the port city of Ouidah, a center of the Atlantic slave trade in what is present-day Benin, between the site where millions of Africans were auctioned into slavery and the Gate of No Return where they were crammed onto ships to the Americas, the slaves were forced to circle the "Tree of Forgetfulness" – men nine times, women seven times. This was meant to erase all memories of their previous lives, their origins and their loved ones.

In this video, the artist Paulo Nazareth re-enacts this ritual, walking backwards around a tree at Place Chacha, the site of the slave auctions in Ouidah. In this poetic attempt to turn back time, he counters the act of forgetting with an act of remembering. The flags of African nations which are wrapped around the tree trunk identify the various countries where the slaves originated from.

Paulo Nazareth was born in Brazil – a country that served as the destination for more African slaves than any other. From 1501 to 1866, some 4.9 million African slaves arrived in Brazil. Millions of indigenous people in Brazil were also enslaved by the Portuguese colonialists. This is why the artist repeated his performance in Brazil, where he walked backwards around a Paubrasilia tree. Its bright yellow blossoms are regarded as one of Brazil's national symbols. In other works, involving long walks, the artist has explored the paths taken by the slaves, highlighting the connections between different places and times and drawing closer to his own roots.

Further artworks from this exhibition