Description
Reinata Sadimba is a sculptor born in Mozambique, in 1945, celebrated globally for her significant contributions to the field of art. She grew up in Mueda, a traditional Makonde community, where the opportunity to engage in art was reserved for men. This artistic expression involved working with wood, particularly ebony. Ceramics were traditionally reserved for women, and their work primarily revolved around the production of objects for utilitarian and domestic use. Reinata broke that division in two significant ways: because she creates art, and because she does so using a material that is not conventionally considered for artistic purposes in her community. She mentions that a crucial turning point towards sculpture came from a dream she had.
Reinata Sadimba's works encapsulate an essential faciality: there is no portrait; instead, her works capture the primordial subjectivity through an objective stylisation. Thus, the eyes, mouth, ears, and nostrils are suggested by incisions and tears, creating a repetition of expressions that allude to the internal aspects observable in her sculptures: it's as if Reinata sculpts with her eyes closed, or in other words, as if she has a vision anchored in a blind spot, expressed through her hands as she feels the clay and shapes it.
This faciality extends beyond the head, permeating and imparting identity to her works, which are consistently small, in other words: the geometric inscriptions with which she covers the objects contribute to situating them within this fundamental interiority. Therefore, there appears to be no direct reference providing an exact transposition from what is seen to what is represented. Instead, there is a filtration of her emotions and experiences into the infinite shaping of clay.
Her sculptures also show various dynamic tensions: between the complete circle, evident in the roundness of the objects, and the broken lines, evident in the way she "wraps" them with inscriptions; between the total monochromatic sense and the illusion of painting provided precisely by these inscriptions.
Works
2021, Maputo
clay with graphite paint 28,5 x 36 x 18 cm
In this allegorical composition, Reinata Sadimba reflects the figure of the African mother - one who doesn't hesitate to employ all means, unfolding and multiplying herself to provide affection and attention to her many children.
2021, Maputo
clay with graphite paint 32,5 x 33 x 25,5 cm
Reinata Sadimba creates works of art on a small scale that bring together forms to address various themes: history, both within the Makonde context and, more broadly, the issue of memory; femininity, in its essentially maternal manifestation; the mind, where demons and ghosts, both personal and collective, find their place. "Dói-me a Cabeça" (My Head Hurts) falls under the latter theme.
2022, Maputo,
clay with graphite paint 64 x 17,5 x 9 cm
"Cobra Makonde" (Makonde Snake) is a recurring theme, or rather a motif, for Reinata Sadimba: both to document the fantastic history of her home community and to continuously exercise her inventive skills with clay. In this case, Reinata seems to show us a "classic" version.
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Biography
1945 – Nemu, Planalto de Mueda e Província de Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
Visual Artist – Ceramic Sculpture
The daughter of peasants, she received a traditional Makonde education and was taught by her mother how to craft utilitarian household objects out of clay, such as pots, pitchers, and plates.
In 1972, she joined FRELIMO, participating in the armed struggle for national liberation.
In 1975, she divorced her husband, an event marked by both liberation and sadness. Reinata seeks a new meaning and discovers in ceramics a way to express her thoughts: she undergoes a fundamental shift in her ceramic creations.
Her works are initially recognised in Cabo Delgado for their "strange and fantastic shapes".
In 1978, she became a FRELIMO reservist.
In 1980, she emigrated to Tanzania due to the war, where she stayed until 1992.
In 1992, she returned to Mozambique, to Maputo.
Her work is featured in the National Art Museum of Mozambique, the United Nations collection, the National Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon, and the Culturgest African Art collection in Lisbon, as well as in numerous national and foreign private collections.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 – Open Atelier, 1834 Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique
2018 – Dialogue with Clay, Kulunwana Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique
2017 – Nimerudi, Brazil-Mozambique Cultural Centre, Maputo, Mozambique
2004 – Makono la Mashiano / Sculpture Hands, Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
1990 – Nyumba ya Sanaa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
WORKSHOPS
2023 – Four Hands Ceramics Artistic Residency, Barcelos, Portugal
2022 – Momentum Mozambique Artistic Residency, Matosinhos, Portugal
2020 – Artistic Residency with Merina Amade, Bajouca, Leiria, Portugal
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 – Sculpture Hands and a Visionary on the Island (of Mozambique), Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | Artistry: a Triad of African Art, Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | 5th International Gaia Art Biennial, Portugal | Reinata Com Vida Samuel (Reinata Invites Samuel), Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal
2022 – Momentum Mozambique, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal | Eenheid, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal | Manimalia, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal | African Identities, Group exhibition, AKKA Project Venezia, Venice, Italy
2021 – Deus ex feminina, Group exhibition, AKKA Project Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2018 – Emoções in-Corporadas (Embodied Emotions), Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2017 – Arte de Gema Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique
2016 – Arte de Gema Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique
2011 – South is the new North, Influx Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal
2008 – Reinata Sadimba and Inácio Matsinhe, African Contemporary Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2006 – Da Natureza do Olhar (Nature of the Gaze), Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | Reinata e Shikhani, Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2005 – Arte Lisboa 2005 (Lisbon Art 2005), Perve Gallery stand, Lisbon, Portugal | Transitions, Brunel Gallery, London, United Kingdom | Às Portas do Mundo (At the Gates of the World), D. Manuel Palace, Évora, Portugal
2004 – Fragile Terra di Mozambico (Fragile land of Mozambique), Botteghe della Solidarietà, Milan, Italy | Da Convergência dos Rios (Convergence of Rivers), Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | Mais a Sul (Further South), Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal | Open Studio, Basel, Switzerland | Perve Collection 03, Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | Art Basel, Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2003 – Latitudes 2003, Ville de Paris Hotel, Paris, France | Porto Arte (Oporto Art) – 2nd Porto Contemporary Art Fair, Portugal | Collection 02 – Contemporary Art Exhibition, Perve Gallery and Parque da Saúde, Lisbon, Portugal
2002 – Perve Collection – 2001, Portugal Bank Editions, Leiria, Portugal | Sulcos (roxos) do olhar ((purple) Furrows of the gaze) – lusophony in the feminine, Perve Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | Contemporary Art from Mozambique, Cervejaria Trindade Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal | World Peace and Understanding, Fortaleza de Maputo, Maputo, Mozambique | Joint Murmurs, National Union of Journalists, Maputo, Mozambique | Kanimambo, Roma, Italy
2001 – Regine d’Africa (Regina from Africa), Rocca di Umbertide, Perugia, IItaly | Maninguemente Ser, Perve Gallery – Lisbon, Portugal | Sur-Sensus, Perve Gallery – Lisbon, Portugal
2000 – Eyes of the World, Perve Gallery- Lisbon, Portugal | Ceramics, Portuguese Cultural Center, Maputo, Mozambique | Signed Art on Feminine, National Museum of Art, Maputo, Mozambique | Progress of the World’s Women, exhibition commissioned by UNIFEM, New York, USA
1998 – Expo 98, Lisbon, Portugal | Maputo, Mozambique
1997 – Maputo, Mozambique and Lisbon, Portugal
1996 – Maputo, Mozambique and Denmark
1995 – TDM Biennial, Maputo, Mozambique | Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa | Brazilian Studies Center, Maputo, Mozambique
1994 – Maputo, Mozambique
1993 – Maputo, Mozambique
1992 – Cabo Delgado and Maputo, Mozambique
AWARDS and HONOURS
2022 – Honour “Ordem do Infante D. Henrique” (Order of Prince Henry the Navigator) by President Portuguese Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Library of the Cultural Centre of the Embassy of Portugal in Maputo, Mozambique
Exhibitions
Interview
Video
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2021, Maputo
clay with graphite paint 28,5 x 36 x 18 cm