Documenting Expansionism

“Decolonisation” is a term that holds both uncertainty and possibility in Tyburn Gallery’s summer show. For example, Edson Chagas’ photo series Found Not Taken (2009) – a title that consciously invokes the rhetoric of western expansionism – explores economic change by documenting abandoned objects in the city of Luanda, Angola, a country controlled by Portugal until 1975. When the artist was growing up, items that were found on the street would be repurposed, like the rusty pushcart depicted in one of the images, but today, in Angola and other former colonies, such things are thrown away, owing to accelerated economic development.

Untitled runs at Tyburn Gallery, London, until 15 September. For more information: www.tyburngallery.com

Credits:
1. Mouna Karray, Murmurer #20, 2007. Lambda print on silver Baryta paper, mounted on aluminium.100 cm x 100 cm. Edition of 5 + 1AP (2/5). Courtesy Tyburn Gallery.