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Nascido em São Tomé e Príncipe, em 1980, Kwame é um artista verdadeiramente multidisciplinar, explorando uma enorme gama de mídias, técnicas e estilos.

Integrou a II Bienal de Arte de São Tomé e Príncipe (2002), e no mesmo ano expôs no Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Iniciou sua carreira acadêmica em 2004 passou pela EPAOE e em seguida pela AR.CO - Escolha de Arte Independente. Nos anos seguintes, Kwame participou de exposições individuais e colectivas em diversos países, com seu trabalho integrando diversas coleções privadas. Recentemente, participou da Bienal de Arquitectura de Veneza (2014), do Festival de Cinema de Lisboa (2014) e expôs no Museu de Portimão (2016). Kwame pertence à terceira geração de artistas do seu país, sendo considerado um dos artistas contemporâneos mais in uentes de São Tomé.

Após sua primeira residência na Wozen, o artista foi convidado a participar da II Bienal de Sur. Pueblos en resistencia no Museu de Belas Artes de Caracas, Venezuela 2018 apresentando a série de trabalhos produzidos em nosso em nosso espaço atelier com o tema Reino Angolar: Utopias de Territórios. Este convite foi um reconhecimento ao propósito de nosso programa de residências artísticas e espaço sem fronteiras.

São Tomé e Príncipe are two islands located in the Gulf of Guinea where latitude and longitude are close to zero degrees. The islands where discovered by the Europeans in the late fteenth century. It remains nuclear whether the islands were inhabited at their time of Discovery. But shortly after their Discovery they were populated with people brought by force from mainland Africa, first to work as slaves in the sugar plantations and later on to be transported to the Americas.

In July 1595, a slave named Amador led a revolt against the Portuguese colonists. After some initial successes, the revolt failed and in August 1595 Amador was captured and killed. The economy of São Tomé e Príncipe had however been devastated and many colonists went to Brazil, to establish sugar plantations over there. In 1598, the Dutch started their attacks against the Portuguese that stayed on the islands, leading to to further destruction of the islands economy.

São João dos Angolares is a town on the east coast of São Tomé island. The people speak Angolar, a unique creole language. It is a nuclear how they arrived on the island. Legend has it that Amador was king of the Angolares people and that he led them to revolt. The Angolares community is still very distinct from the other communities on the islands and continues to have its own traditions and world views.

Kwame Sousa spent a couple of months in São João dos Angolares and tried throught his art to discover the realm that was left by King Amador. It is a realm that exists in people’s minds and is shrouded in mystery, with little or no written resources, and whose existence is regularly challenged by researchers who requi- re empirical evidence. Kwame’s process of Discovery is reflected in the exhibition.

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