Edson Chagas (b. 1977, Luanda, Angola) lives and works between Luanda, Angola and Lisbon, Portugal. He studied Documentary photography in Newport, United Kingdom (2008) and Photojournalism in London, United Kingdom (2007). Chagas collects everyday objects abandoned in the street, some still in good condition, others worn out or semi-destroyed during his urban explorations, and places them in a new context, eventually photographing them against carefully chosen backgrounds, whose textures and colour contrast he exploits. If the dislocation of the objects from one point to another in the city gives them a new value, in a kind of artist’s recycling that saves them from the obsolescence to which they are condemned, at the same time, it makes it almost impossible to determine which photographs were taken in Luanda, London or Newport. A subtle critique of the society of consumption and waste, which progressively shortens the life cycle of goods and unifies the fabric of the city from one part of the world to another, is thus posed. Compared to the end of the war in 2002, Angola now has one of the highest growth rates on the African continent thanks to international economic agreements.
Chagas represented Angola at the country’s first Venice Biennale national pavilion in 2013. He won the biennial’s top prize, the Golden Lion for best national pavilion. The jury praised his showing of the “irreconcilability and complexity of site”. Numerous international exhibitions, i.e. at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, London, and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt. A selection of Found Not Taken was presented at the Angolan Pavilion of the 55th Venice Biennale and was awarded the Golden Lion. In 2015, the photo book of the same name was published by Kehrer Verlag.
