We Shall Overcome!, 2015/2016

We Shall Overcome! is an internationally recognised message originated from the late-nineteenth century gospel hymn ‘I Will Overcome Someday’. In 1948, the hymn was adapted by the North Amer[1]ican folk singer Pete Seeger, who published the protest song ‘We Will Overcome’. This song became widely known, and in the 1960s, it became the anthem of the civil rights movement in North America.

The slogan was used during different moments of protest, including Selma to Montgomery marches; in South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle; spoken by Martin Luther King in his last speech be[1]fore being assassinated; adapted to the Czech language during the Velvet Revolution in Prague and even adopted in India in countless situations.

Rita GT has appropriated the title of this historic song – the anthem of the struggle for freedom of expression, for equal social and racial rights, of pro-democracy movements throughout the world – in order to give it a new spatial and temporal dimension. Her work reflects the present sense of discon[1]tent and injustice, of the duping of democracy by subversive tyrannies that undermine and dominate the intricacies of society, politics and economy. The artist explores the questions that generate social tension not only in Angola, where she lives since 2012, but also in the rest of the world, such as mass illegal migration, human trafficking, terrorism and mass deaths.

The project presented by Rita GT at MNAC will come out from a performance that will take place during the opening day and will be recorded on a video that will be available in the exhibition space and online from the next day. On that day, a group of people, wearing overalls made of patterned African fabric, designed by the artist, will enter the museum carrying brooms and buckets to cover the wall with a wallpaper also designed by the artist. During this process, there will be the participa[1]tion of the Nigerian musician Keziah Jones and a group of dancers. The artist will take part in hanging the wallpaper and, using spray paint, will draw signs linked to the concept of the slogan that echoes around MNAC.

Thus, various aspects of the use of these words of struggle and protest are evoked in a multidiscipli[1]nary action: music and the power of words; the link established by the African fabric with black and women’s rights; the act of marching and the principle of peaceful protest; the power of the group; the importance of artistic interpretation and of what should be perpetuated.

Adelaide Ginga (curator)