Jota Mombaça

More than simply making art, the role of the artist is to redistribute the means of imagination. As the Late Liberal imaginary continues to invest in its own extractive relationship with the planet, nurturing an ever-growing desire to expand colonialism to the cosmos while depleting Earth of its material consistency, it is important to practice a sensibility that surrenders to the planet. I celebrate my lack of control over things. I am interested in activating processes in which land can actually intervene, which means I am most often led by forces that remain mysterious to me.

HOW DOES YOUR SUBMITTED WORK RESPOND TO THE CIRCA 20:25 MANIFESTO?
YOUR BLOOD IS LAND RMX calls for a refusal to leave the planet. Such refusal is in tune with this year’s Manifesto, in its call for the building of Refugia as an act of covenant with the planet, for there is no refuge outside of its metabolism. The video I chose to present expands on my dreams of inhabiting underground spaces of breath and possibility in the face of a world obliterated by apocalyptic capitalism. It manifests the desire for Refugia as a spell that begins with(in) land and its rightful claim on us.

IF AWARDED THE £30,000 CIRCA PRIZE, WHAT 10-MINUTE WORK WOULD YOU CREATE – AND HOW WOULD IT EMBODY THE SPIRIT OF REFUGIA?
If granted the Circa prize, I would dedicate the resources to produce a video work unfolded from a series of workshops carried by me in the territory where I was born, Natal, Brazil. All participants in the workshop would receive a stipend and assume different roles in the production of the video. The project would explore the poetics of merging with land, as a figuration of belonging which is not dependent on national identity, rather on the ground under our feet, and on the multiple relational dynamics between body and territory, memory and land, planet and emotion.

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Funding for the CIRCA PRIZE is generated entirely by the #CIRCAECONOMY, a circular model that reinvests proceeds from affordable art sold on CIRCA.ART into new public art commissions, charitable causes, art education and prizes. Since launching in 2020, the initiative has raised over £1 Million, placing artists and communities at the centre of an economy that continually reinvests in the future of art and culture.

The CIRCA PRIZE 2025 winners will be revealed LIVE in Piccadilly Circus on Monday 13 October, with a special 30-minute award ceremony starting at 20:00 BST. Don’t miss it!