Past Exhibitions | The Box | Exhibitions

Mónica de Miranda

Path to the Stars (2022) 

A woman with brown skin wears a white dress and floats in still water with her arms outstretched. Leafy water plants with small flowers surround her.

Follow an odyssey through time that focuses on historical freedom fighters in Africa, the complex and uncertain present, and a future in tune with nature. 

Mónica de Miranda’s video Path to the Stars revisits the legacy of anti-colonial resistance in Angola, inviting the audience on a journey through revolutionary history and the future. The title comes from a 1953 poem by Agostinho Neto, a freedom fighter and the former president of Angola.

Over the course of a single day, from sunrise to sunset, viewers follow the path of a heroine as she navigates down Angola’s Kwanza River. She confronts various avatars of her past—and of Angola’s struggle for independence from Portugal—along the way.

This languid, deeply poetic, and lyrical film complements the Wexner Center’s presentation of Sarah Maldoror: Tricontinental Cinema, on view in our galleries from February 3–April 28, 2024. (34 mins., HD video)

"A metaphor of a female place that threads through various times and spaces."
A woman with brown skin wears a white dress and floats in still water with her arms outstretched. Leafy water plants with small flowers surround her.

Mónica de Miranda, Path to the Stars, 2022. HD video. Image courtesy of the artist. 

Two Black women sit side by side outside at a table set for a meal amid tropical vegetation. One wears black, the other wears white, both stare ahead.

Mónica de Miranda, Path to the Stars, 2022. HD video. Image courtesy of the artist. 

Two Black women face each other in a small boat. One, wearing a black dress and a red blindfold, stands. The other, wearing camouflage fatigues, sits.

Mónica de Miranda, Path to the Stars, 2022. HD video. Image courtesy of the artist. 

More about the artist

Mónica de Miranda chevron-down chevron-up

Mónica de Miranda is a Portuguese artist of Angolan descent who lives and works between Lisbon, Portugal, and Luanda, Angola. A filmmaker, artist, and researcher, she bases her work on themes of urban archaeology and the ways that emotions relate to or affect geographies. Her interdisciplinary practice encompasses drawing, installation, photography, film, video, and sound, testing the boundaries between fiction and documentary. She holds an MA in Visual Arts and Sculpture from Camberwell College of Arts in London and a PhD in Artistic Studies from Middlesex University in London. She was featured in the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022) and has exhibited her work in numerous institutions from London to Lisbon. Read more.
 

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Sarah Maldoror: Tricontinental Cinema.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY 
National Endowment for the Arts  
Ohio Humanities 

ADDITIONAL SUPPORTED PROVIDED BY 
Rohauer Collection Foundation 

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY 
Ohio Department of Development

Greater Columbus Arts Council

The Wexner Family

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Ohio Arts Council
, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
CampusParc

Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme

The Columbus Foundation

Nationwide Foundation

Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease 

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane
Axium Packaging
Nancy Kramer
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
Larry and Donna James
Bruce and Joy Soll
Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle
Jones Day
Alex and Renée Shumate

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Past Film/Video

Mónica de Miranda