Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 17

Botelho’s work. By doing so, I hope not only to be able to understand what
kind of witness Botelho is but also to engage critically with such categories
as risk, co-presence, and contemporaneity, all of which are central to our
understanding of what it means to be a witness. I present first the works of
art and the historical context without which they would not exist and then
the theoretical framework within which I discuss these works of art. I have
chosen this order to respect the interpretative openness that every work of
art carries with it and to invite readers to engage with Botelho’s art on their
own terms. Beginning this article by establishing a theoretical framework
would almost inevitably have predetermined readers’ engagement with the
following artworks and thus infringed upon the variety of meanings readers
may assign to them. �
“To what deaths, what miseries you condemn / Your heroes! What pains
you inflict on them …” (Camões 2001:96)
From ���� � to ����, the Portuguese authorities fought wars in what they,
in accordance with the Portuguese constitution of the time, referred to as
provincias ultramarinas or Ultramar, overseas territories or provinces (Afonso
and Gomes ����; Cann ����; Venter ����). The purpose of these wars,
following the logic of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and portuguesismo
(Portugueseness), was to prevent these territories from becoming independent
states. The “overseas territories” were indeed seen as integral parts of
Portugal rather than as colonies and the Colonial Act of ���� was replaced
by terminology revolving around the idea of Ultramar. This understanding
was expressed in slogans such as De Minho a Timor somos todos portugueses
(from the Minho to Timor we are all Portuguese) and in concepts like unidade
da nação pluricontinental portugues (Portugal as multicontinental nation) (see
Figure �). �
�
I would like to thank the reviewer for Arts and International Affairs for their constructive engagement
with an earlier draft of this article and especially for encouragement to go beyond merely “applying”
Margalit’s concept to Botelho’s work. I would also like to thank Manuel Botelho for permission to
reproduce his works of art in this article and Carole Garton for wonderful translations from the
Portuguese.
�
As Piçarra (����:��–��) explains, the first organized uprising against Portuguese rule in Africa, an
attack on a prison in the neighborhood of Sambizanga, Luanda, took place in ���� and is referenced
in Sarah Maldoror’s film Sambizanga (����).
�
Figures �–�: author’s photographs; Figures ��–��: artworks by Manuel Botelho, reproduced by
permission; Figures �� and ��: artworks and photographs by Manuel Botelho, used by permission.
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