MEET
Hélio Buite
Hélio Buite is a multidisciplinary artist whose career in Luanda has been marked by a constant navigation between two distinct contexts: informal Luanda and formal Luanda. His practice encompasses various disciplines such as photography, video, installation, audio and documentation, exploring in depth the central role of families in African societies. By analysing the complex relations of decolonisation and coloniality with the West, he incorporates influences from independence movements, neo-colonialism, civil wars and nuances of political systems.
Hélio Buite's work creates distorted narratives of reality, telling contemporary stories of Luanda, highlighting its progress, social division and economic, cultural, religious and migratory complexities. He also explores the informal activities of the population and the transformations that shape the country.
Committed to filling gaps in the archived information on Angola's "spoken history", Hélio recognises the importance of the family as the main vehicle for transmitting knowledge and preserving oral tradition, thus seeking to capture and express the nuances of Angolan society in his multidisciplinary work.