Recent archaeological findings in Lagos, southern Portugal, unearthed the forgotten past of Portugal’s role in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved African people. Invoking the distance between what we want to forget and the urgency of memory, Tales of Oblivion is a territory of revelation of the past in the present.
Tales of Oblivion takes us through a process of revisiting facts from a historical memory, brought to light by recent archaeological excavations in Lagos, Portugal. What is discovered belongs to the past of slavery, revealing Portugal’s role in the transatlantic trafficking of Africans. A 15th century rubbish dump, and all the details that are presented in the list of the collection of the remains, inform us and tell us more and more. The timing of the image, the sound and the narration set a rhythm that leads our gaze and perception on a sensitive discovery that plunges into various media, texts, illustrations, scattered materials and meticulous descriptions. A temporal interplay is established between present and past, where we are placed at the center of this remembered and projected memory. It is also a pretext for reflecting on time, the mark of death and its inexorable disappearance. We must remember, we must not forget. – Carlota Gonçalves