Vasco Cordeiro opens exhibition that "brings José Nuno da Câmara Pereira back home"
The President of the Government opened in Vila do Porto an exhibition evoking José Nuno da Câmara Pereira, being, according to Vasco Cordeiro, a tribute to the life and work of a plastic artist "who gave so much of us around the world."
"We bring José Nuno da Câmara Pereira back home. We bring him to "his" island and to the beginning of everything. And I say he have so much of us around the world because the fact that he was one of us, a native of Santa Maria and an Azorean, was never parted from his career and work, thus honouring his land and his People: the Azores," said Vasco Cordeiro.
At the opening of the exhibition titled "Territory of Transformation: José Nuno da Câmara Pereira (1937-2018)" at the Vila do Porto Centre of Santa Maria Museum, the President of the Government also stressed that the Government regards Azorean museums exactly as the name of this exhibition - "territories of transformation."
According to him, the Government persists in the "idea that Museums are tools for preserving the cultural memory of communities, being also responsible for natural, cultural, material and immaterial heritage as well as for cultural creation and appreciation."
"We have made a huge investment in this area on all islands by giving shape to this aspiration on each of them," said Vasco Cordeiro. On the occasion, he pointed out the example of the recent opening of the Vila do Porto Centre of the Santa Maria Museum, the Time Museum, which is the first building of Corvo Ecomuseum, the construction of the Francisco de Lacerda Museum on São Jorge, among other projects that are under development. In this regard, Vasco Cordeiro mentioned the Shipbuilding Museum Centre in Santo Amaro on the island of Pico and the works to be soon launched at Graça Church in Ponta Delgada, commonly known as the Academy of Arts, or the second and final phase of the intervention at the Carlos Machado Museum, also in Ponta Delgada.
After noting that "none of these initiatives have happened in the past by mere chance," Vasco Cordeiro emphasised that these museums aim to be "spaces where those who visit us, whether they are children, students, Azorean citizens or visitors from outside the Region, may discover what we are, who we are or how we have been and will be."
"Therefore, we, as a People, are part of what can be seen today in this comprehensive exhibition that portrays José Nuno da Câmara Pereira's brilliant work. We are also part of what can be seen in Canto da Maya's permanent exhibition in Ponta Delgada at the Santa Bárbara Centre of the Carlos Machado Museum," emphasised the President of the Government.
The exhibition, opened today, takes place 23 years after the first exhibition held by José Nuno da Câmara Pereira on Santa Maria at the opening of the museum in Santo Espírito, who then presented eight works selected from his vast artistic production.
Based on a careful selection of artistic objects, this exhibition presents about three dozen pieces as well as various graphic, photographic and film documentations from several public and private collections, mostly based in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.