Image Not Available
President Suit
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: May 2020
Artist: Sandra Poulson
Dimensions:
2000 × 1500 mm (200 × 150 cm)
Medium: Polyester satin fabric, Fabric hardener
Object number: FA.2021.46.CC
DescriptionGreen suit set with in large green fabric backdrop. Made by and worn by Sandra Poulson as part of her performance piece, An Angolan Archive (2020).
As described by the artist:
President Suit
The President Suit is one of the artefacts of An Angolan Archive (2020). The piece references the shape of the suit worn by the Angolan president on its popularized photograph which is printed on t-shirts widely distributed for free at the time of presidential campaigns. The garment references the tension between power and the lack of mobility of a body in power. While investigating the friction between the modus operandi of newly independent African nations, the methods behind state building and Africa’s colonial heritage.
An Angolan Archive is an assemblage of around 200 pieces of information across mediums that aims to define the sociocultural, economic, political, ethnic and cultural landscape of Angola, focusing in Luanda. It reflects about micro political moments and how they reverberate into macro-politics. Here all items are studied not only in a material level, but mostly in a material culture perspective. As well as operate as an instigator for action towards progress by creating an opportunity for individual agency for one to ‘discuss their own story’ and tell it.
The suit has been adopted in Angola, as part of its relationship of coloniality with Portugal and later the globalization of Menswear. In the context of Luanda, the suit is worn as a primary dress code for white and some blue collar jobs. When worn outdoors, it allows one, to maintain an average body temperature of 30°C due to Luanda’s tropical climate. Despite that, it is worn as it grants the wearer the status of a ‘doctor’, despite their profession. The garment’s association with bodies that colonize, and therefore hold the power still reverberate in Angolan society, as it seemingly elevates the wearer, assigning them respect.
As described by the artist:
President Suit
The President Suit is one of the artefacts of An Angolan Archive (2020). The piece references the shape of the suit worn by the Angolan president on its popularized photograph which is printed on t-shirts widely distributed for free at the time of presidential campaigns. The garment references the tension between power and the lack of mobility of a body in power. While investigating the friction between the modus operandi of newly independent African nations, the methods behind state building and Africa’s colonial heritage.
An Angolan Archive is an assemblage of around 200 pieces of information across mediums that aims to define the sociocultural, economic, political, ethnic and cultural landscape of Angola, focusing in Luanda. It reflects about micro political moments and how they reverberate into macro-politics. Here all items are studied not only in a material level, but mostly in a material culture perspective. As well as operate as an instigator for action towards progress by creating an opportunity for individual agency for one to ‘discuss their own story’ and tell it.
The suit has been adopted in Angola, as part of its relationship of coloniality with Portugal and later the globalization of Menswear. In the context of Luanda, the suit is worn as a primary dress code for white and some blue collar jobs. When worn outdoors, it allows one, to maintain an average body temperature of 30°C due to Luanda’s tropical climate. Despite that, it is worn as it grants the wearer the status of a ‘doctor’, despite their profession. The garment’s association with bodies that colonize, and therefore hold the power still reverberate in Angolan society, as it seemingly elevates the wearer, assigning them respect.