Grada Kilomba. Secrets to Tell

“ MAAT | Project Room” is the title of a new series of books which will accompany the exhibition programme defined for that space in the MAAT building. The first exhibition in this cycle, Secrets to Tell, by Grada Kilomba, was inspired by the installation “The Desire Project”, which the artist presented at the São Paulo Biennial, in 2016. This piece takes centre stage in the book and is presented across multiple pages, which include reproductions of several video stills and their original texts, with notes by the artist. In her essay, Inês Grosso, the exhibition curator, presents the work (now a part of the EDP Foundation Art Collection) in the following terms: “Divided into three acts, like a theatre play – “While I Walk”, “While I Speak” and “While I Write” –, this work shows a cadenced sequence of phrases and words which make up a narrative which is compelling and politically engaged with a post-colonial perspective on the representations of history and the decolonisation of contemporary thought.” As well as this essay, the book includes an open letter from Alfredo Jaar to the artist, and a transcript of an interview with Grada Kilomba from 2017. Also included in the book is a set of images fully documenting the exhibition.