Installation view of Grada Kilomba | One soul, one memory featuring 18 Verses (2022) at Goodman Gallery in London, courtesy Goodman Gallery Grada Kilomba Portrait of Grada Kilomba © Ute Langkafel b. 1968, Lisbon, PortugalPace Publications: (opens in a new window) Shop Now Read More Grada Kilomba is a Berlin-based Portuguese artist whose works draws on memory, trauma, gender, and post-colonialism, interrogating concepts of knowledge, power, and violence.“What stories are told? How are they told? And told by whom?” are constant questions in Kilomba’s body of work. Performances, staged readings, videos, sculptural installations, and sound pieces all become conduits for the artist’s unique practice of decolonial storytelling. Kilomba holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Freie Universität Berlin and has been recently awarded an Honoris Causa Doctorate by ISPA, Lisbon. She has also lectured at several international universities.Kilomba has participated in La Biennale de Lubumbashi VI (2019); the 10. Berlin Biennale (2018); Documenta 14 (2017), Kassel; and the Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2016). In recent years, she has presented her work at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town (2022); Somerset House in London (2022); the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki (2022); the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2021); Castello Di Rivoli Museo D’Arte Contemporanea in Turin (2021); the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions in Tokyo (2020); and other international venues. Kilomba’s work can be found in many prominent public and private collections around the world, including Tate Modern in London; the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; the Hartwig Art Foundation in Amsterdam; the Rennie Collection in Toronto; and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, among others. Read More Grada Kilomba, One sorrow, one revolution, 2023, neon, 329.6 cm × 16.7 cm (10' 9-3/4" × 6-9/16") © Grada Kilomba Grada Kilomba, Heroines, Birds and Monsters series, Creon and Haemon Act II, 2020. Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery Grada Kilomba, Heroines, Birds and Monsters series, Creon and Haemon Act III, 2020. Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery Grada Kilomba, Heroines, Birds and Monsters series, Triptych 1, Antigone, 2020. Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery. Grada Kilomba, Heroines, Birds and Monsters series, Triptych 2, Sphinx, 2020. Courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery Exhibitions View All Past Grada Kilomba 18 Verses May 12 – Jul 1, 2023 New York Journal View All Films Explore Grada Kilomba's "18 Verses" Jun 04, 2023 Films Grada Kilomba in Conversation with Tina Campt Jun 04, 2023 Essays In Her Sculptural Installations, Grada Kilomba Makes Visible What Is Invisible May 10, 2023 News Grada Kilomba Joins Pace Gallery Apr 04, 2023 One-Artist Exhibitions Group Exhibitions Public Collections Books and Catalogues Periodicals Close One-Artist Exhibitions Grada Kilomba One-Artist Exhibitions DatesBorn 1968, Lisbon, PortugalLives and works in Berlin2024Grada Kilomba: Opera to a Black Venus: What would the ocean tell us tomorrow, if emptied of water today?, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany, June 21–October 27, 2024.Grada Kilomba: Opera to a Black Venus: What would the ocean tell us tomorrow, if emptied of water today?, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Germany, June 21–October 27, 2024.Grada Kilomba: O Barco, Inhotim Museum, Brumadinho, Brazil, opens April 13, 2024.2023Grada Kilomba, Pace Gallery, 540 West 25th Street, New York, May 12–July 1, 2023.Online: Grada Kilomba: Heroiness, Birds, and Monsters, Pace Gallery Website, May 10–July 1, 2023. https://www.pacegallery.com/online-exhibitions/grada-kilomba-heroines-birds-monsters/2022Grada Kilomba: Espressioni, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, April 12–July 18, 2022.2021Grada Kilomba: O Barco / The Boat, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, September 3–October 17, 2021.Grada Kilomba: Heroines, Birds & Monsters, Amant Foundation, New York, July 10–October 31, 2021.Grada Kilomba: The Words That Were Missing, McLaughlin Gallery, Berlin, May 1–June 12, 2021.2019Grada Kilomba: A World of Illusions, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, November 10, 2019–August 3, 2020.Grada Kilomba: Poetic Disobediences, Pinacoteca, São Paulo, July 6–September 30, 2019.2018Grada Kilomba: Secrets to Tell, The Power Plant, Toronto, June 23–September 3, 2018.Grada Kilomba: Speaking the Unspeakable, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, March 17–April 14, 2018.2017Grada Kilomba: The Most Beautiful Language, Avenida da India Gallery, Lisbon, October 27, 2017–March 4, 2018.Grada Kilomba: Secrets to Tell, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, October 27–February 5, 2017. Group Exhibitions Grada Kilomba Group Exhibitions Grada Kilomba Group Exhibitions2024Poetics of Power, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, November 14, 2024–May 25, 2025.da desigualdade constante dos dias de Leonor, Gulbenkian Foundation, Portugal, September 20, 2024–January 21, 2025.Neon Foundation, Greece, September 10–October 31, 2024.2022ARS22: Living Encounters, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, April 8–October 16, 2022.2021Ubuntu, a Lucid Dream, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, November 26, 2021–February 20, 2022.Farsa, Sesc Pompeia, São Paulo, October 20, 2020–January 30, 2021.Resist! Die Kunst des Widerstands | The Art of Resistance, Rautenstrauch Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany, April 1, 2021–January 9, 2022.Tudo o que eu quero – Artistas portuguesas 1900-2020, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, June 2–August 23, 2022.Rhizomes, La Base Sus Marine, Bordeaux, France, February 6–May 16, 2021.2020Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, Yebisu, Tokyo, February 2020.MÁSCARAS (MASKS), Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto, Portugal, June 2–August 16, 2020. (Catalogue)2019Berliner Herbstsalon DE-HEIMATIZE IT!, Gorki Theatre, Berlin, October 26–November 17, 2019.Tandem, Alexander and Bonin, New York, May 3–June 22, 2019.Affective Utopia, Kadist, Paris, February 8, 2019–April 21, 2020.Bienalsur, Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz, Bolivia, 2019.Bienalsur, Centro Cultural de la Universidade de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2019.2018The Black City: Glosses, E-Flux Gallery and Participant Inc., New York, December 1, 2018.Do Silencio a Memoria, Paco das Artes, Sao Paulo, November 14, 2018–January 14, 2019.In Context: I was waiting for this Past, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, August 30–September 29, 2018.We don’t need another hero, 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin, June 9–September 9, 2018.Frameworks, International Film Festival, Rotterdam, January 6, 2018.2017Berliner Herbstsalon, Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berlin, November 11–November 26, 2017.Incerteza Viva – Live Uncertainty, Bienal de São Paulo, September 7–December 11, 2017.The Silences Between, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, August 24–September 29, 2017.South-South: Let Me Begin Again, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, January 28–March 4, 2017.2016O futuro será uma réplica – The future will be a replica, Consul of Portugal in São Paulo, September–December 2016. (Catalogue)Vulnerability, Rauma Biennial Balticum, Rauma, Finland, August 18–August 24, 2016.Banquete Antropofágico: Anthropophagic Banquet, Department of Contemporary Arts, University of Rio de Janeiro, 2016.Knowledge Unbounded, Department of Arts and Aesthetics Exhibition, University of Stockholm, 2016. Public Collections Grada Kilomba Public Collections Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, LisbonMuseum of Art, Architecture and Technology, LisbonTate Modern, London Books and Catalogues Grada Kilomba Books 2022Laia, Joao. "Grada Kilomba." In ARS22: Eläviä kohtaamisia (living encounters.) Helsinki, Finland; Milan, Italy: Kiasma; Mousse Publishing, 2022: 202, 203.2021Kilomba, Grada. Memorie della piantagione: Episodi di razzismo quotidiano. Alessandria, Italy: Edizioni Capovolte, 2021.2020MÁSCARAS (MASKS) (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Guilherme Blanc, Grada Kilomba and Zach Blas. Porto, Portugal and Milan: Galeria Municipal do Porto, and Mousse Publishing, 2020.2019Grada Kilomba: Desobediências Poéticas. Texts by Grada Kilomba, Leila Graziela Costa Oliveira, Valéria Piccoli, and Jochen Volz. São Paulo: Pinacoteca de São Paulo, 2019.2018Kilomba, Grada, and Gabi Ngcobo. Grada Kilomba: The Most Beautiful Language. Lisbon: Galerias Municipais/EGEAC, 2018.2017Carvalho, Nuno Ferreira de, and Grada Kilomba. Secret to Tell: Grada Kilomba. Lisbon: Fundação EDP. 2017.2016Lenzi, Isabella. O Futuro Será uma Réplica (exhibition catalogue). São Paulo: Consulate Geral of Portugal, 2016.2008Kilomba, Grada. Plantation Memories: Episodes of Everyday Racism. Münster: Unrast Verlag, 2008.2005Mythen, Masken Und Subjekts: Kritische Weißseinsforschung in Deutschland. Texts by Maureen M. Eggers, Grada Kilomba, and Peggy Piesche. Münster: Unrast Verlag, 2005. Periodicals Grada Kilomba Periodicals 2023Benzine, Vittoria. “Here are 10 Exhibitions to See During Frieze New York, From Major New Kusama Works to Little-Known O’Keeffes” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). Artnet News, 15 May 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/exhibitions-during-frieze-new-york-2023-2300499“Bienal de São Paulo Announces Participating Artists.” Artforum, 29 June 2023. https://www.artforum.com/news/bienal-de-sao-paulo-announces-participating-artists-90764Garden Castro, Jan. “Grada Kilomba” (Pace Gallery exhibition review). Sculpture Magazine, 26 June 2023. https://sculpturemagazine.art/grada-kilomba/Gaskin, Sam. “São Paulo Bienal 2023 to Choreograph the Impossible.” Ocula Magazine, 2 May 2023. https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/sao-paulo-bienal-to-choreograph-the-impossible/Greenberger, Alex. “Pace gallery Takes on Grada Kilomba, a Favorite of the Biennial Circuit.” ARTnews, 4 April 2023. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/pace-gallery-grada-kilomba-representation-1234663046/Kilomba, Grada. “The Curators of the 35th Bienal De Sao Paulo: Choreographies of the Impossible.” Interview with Diane Lima, Manuel Borja-Villel, and Helio Menezes. Artforum, September 2023. https://www.artforum.com/print/202307/the-curators-of-the-35th-bienal-de-sao-paulo-choreographies-of-the-impossible-90967?Lauter, Devorah. “12 Essential Art Exhibitions Worth Traveling For This Fall.” Cultured, 23 August 2023. https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2023/08/23/marina-abramovic-mickalene-thomas-mike-kelley“Pace Gallery Announces Representation of Grada Kilomba.” ArtDaily, 6 April 2023. https://artdaily.com/news/156059/Pace-Gallery-announces-representation-of-Grada-Kilomba-#.ZDWovOzMK3J“Portugese Interdisciplinary Artist Grada Kilomba Joins Pace.” WideWalls, 5 April 2023. https://www.widewalls.ch/news-feed/grada-kilomba-joins-pace2022Kilomba, Grada. “Grada Kilomba’s Excavation of History in Frieze” (exhibition review). Interview with Victoria Adukwei Bulley. Frieze, June 2022. https://www.frieze.com/article/grada-kilombas-excavation-history2021Elbaor, Caroline. “How Grada Kilomba Turned Her Study of Psychoanalysis and PTSD Into an Artistic Practice That Confronts Collective Trauma.” Artnet News, 24 September 2021. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/grada-kilomba-confronts-collective-trauma-2012157Mitter, Siddhartha. "Grada Kilomba’s Rituals of Resistance” (exhibition review). The New York Times, 12 October 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/arts/design/amant-kilomba-portuguese-artist.html2020Churchman, Fi. “We Cannot Escape Our History: Artist Grada Kilomba Shines New Light on Old Stories.” ArtReview, 6 October 2020. https://artreview.com/grada-kilomba-we-cannot-escape-our-history/