Exhibition Details

AKKA Project is pleased to announce a collaboration with MUSEC - Museo delle Culture - in Lugano, Switzerland, with the solo exhibition by Filipe Branquinho: Lipiko. Curated by Kristian Khachatourian and Lidija Kostic Khachatourian, the show presents some of the most recent series by the Mozambican artist, one of the most authoritative, insightful, and irreverent voices in African art.
Filipe Branquinho: Lipiko features thirty works by Filipe Branquinho, created between 2018 and 2022, in which he explores social themes, popular customs, mythologies, and urban dynamics of his own country, all imbued with a touch of humour and satire. The artist delves into politically and socially relevant topics through his unique artistic perspective, skillfully intertwining traditional Makonde masks with contemporary issues and creating a captivating visual narrative.
Growing up in Mozambique, between the realms of journalism and the art scene, Branquinho developed his passion for using art as a medium to address critical themes. In his figurative universe, the traditional Mapiko masks of the Makonde people, a prominent ethnic group in northern Mozambique, frequently find their place. Branquinho employs masks as caricatures to depict real events and individuals. The exhibition's title itself, 'Lipiko', references the name of the dancer who wears the Mapiko mask and embodies its haunting spirit.
The exhibition at MUSEC starts with a selection of works from the renowned Lipiko series. One of the primary inspirations for these artworks is the infamous 'tuna bond' scandal, a corruption affair involving over 2 billion dollars that were intended to finance a significant fishing and tuna processing project in Maputo since 2012 but were instead misappropriated. Combining photographic and pictorial techniques, the artist portrays vibrant, imaginative fish alongside powerful figures, such as politicians, judges, or lawyers, whose facial features are replaced by traditional Mapiko masks. Body of work that has been presented as part of the National Pavilion of Mozambique at the Biennale di Venezia Arte in 2019; where Filipe was selected to represent his country.
Accompanying this section is a captivating short film by Martina Margaux Cozzi, titled 'Lipiko: the Art of Filipe Branquinho' providing viewers with insights into Branquinho's creative process.
Continuing this artistic journey there is In Gold We Trust, a metaphor for Mozambican society. In this context, grotesque characters trade the values of their culture for luxury products from the globalized industry, including fashion, tobacco, private jets, horse racing bets, wines, and watches. These status symbols are all tied to the American dollar, which the artist transforms into splendid origami and then scans and adding them onto the final canvas.
The exhibition culminates with Bestiarium, a series of photographs captured between 2020 and 2021, amidst the peak of the global pandemic. These evocative images depict human figures with their faces concealed by zoomorphic masks. The combination of these masks and the expressive body language of the subjects accentuates the inherent connection between human and animal nature. These creatures reflect the complexities of human existence, offering a pathway to investigate the unsettling realities of our contemporary world. With each shot, the artist unveils a latent uneasiness, inviting a dialogue between the observer and the artwork, prompting a profound introspection: how much of the beast resides within us?
The exhibition also includes 14 original Makonde masks, some of which were used by the artist to create an installation, while others are displayed alongside the works that portray them.