New exhibition at Católica gives voice ‘to those who have been silenced’

‘It's a great honour to host an exhibition on an absolutely central theme: the reconfiguration of contemporary cities,’ said the President of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Isabel Capeloa Gil, at the opening of the new Enciclopédia Negra exhibition.

Originating at the Pinacoteca in São Paulo, Brazil, and organised by Católica School of Arts, the exhibition gives visibility to an ‘invisible diversity’ in contemporary cities and ‘shows this very strong presence, a difficult topic in Portuguese society,’ added Isabel Capeloa Gil.

The Black Encyclopaedia takes on a new light at the Amélia de Mello Foundation Gallery, a space that is intended ‘for sharing and integration,’ recalled the President of the University, who was responsible for its foundation in 2018. Since then, the gallery has hosted ‘16 exhibitions featuring 433 works in a wide variety of media, showcasing 115 Portuguese and international artists’, emphasised Paulo Pinto, the gallery's director.

Thanks to Cultura at Católica, ‘artistic creation has found its place on campus.’ Since then, the gallery has welcomed more than 4,500 visitors, including ‘more than 120 guided tours for students, teachers, researchers and people and organisations from outside UCP’.

Nuno Crespo, Director of the School of Arts at UCP in Porto, also emphasised the importance of the new exhibition, given that "it is the only university in Portugal to discuss this issue" so openly.

The curator of the exhibition, Jaime Lauriano, defines it as a way of ‘humanising the issue of racism.’ A total of 104 portraits make up the exhibition, which is not only visual, but above all discursive, restoring the ‘discourse of those who have been silenced,’ he emphasises.

Curated by Flávio Gomes, Jaime Lauriano and Lilia Moritz-Schwarcz, the Enciclopédia Negra exhibition is part of a vast project that began in 2016 and aims to increase the visibility of black personalities who are little known to date.

The exhibition, in partnership with the Pinacoteca de São Paulo and the School of Arts of the Catholic University, is on show at the Amélia de Mello Foundation Gallery, at the UCP headquarters in Lisbon, and can be visited every working day between 2pm and 5pm.