Maria Madeira. Photo: Tim Stone
Maria Madeira
PROJECT
After returning to her homeland of Timor-Leste following the end of the Indonesian occupation (1975–99), Maria Madeira found herself sleeping in a room with red stains on the walls. She later discovered these marks had been made by Timorese women who were forced by Indonesian soldiers to wear lipstick, kneel and kiss the walls. In response, Madeira created Kiss and don’t tell, a mixed-media installation combining the tenderness of a kiss with the violence inflicted on these women. To long strips of canvas, Madeira applied tais (a traditional Timorese textile) in the shape of lips and lipstick marks, along with betel nut and paint which drip down the canvas to resemble wounds and blood.
In a film accompanying the canvases, Madeira sings a mourning song, Dear Mother, traditionally sung by the youngest community members to the oldest, in her Indigenous language of Tetun. She kisses the canvas, re-enacting the abuse and humiliation that left behind these silent markers of women’s torment. Kiss and Don’t Tell is a powerful act of resistance, survival and resilience that pays homage to the women of Timor-Leste.
Madeira became the first artist to represent Timor-Leste at the nation’s inaugural pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, curated by Natalie King, where she presented the work with live performances that she will also perform for the 2026 NGV Triennial.
The acquisition of this artist’s work is supported by the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists
ABOUT
Maria Madeira was born in the village of Geno in the Ermera region of Timor-Leste. The Portuguese Air Force evacuated her from Timor in 1976 during the Indonesian invasion. She spent most of the next eight years in a refugee camp run by the Red Cross on the outskirts of Lisbon and migrated with her family to Australia in August 1983. An accomplished artist and scholar, Madeira has exhibited widely, with her solo shows including Flowery Talk (Timor-Leste), and Ina Lou (Indonesia), alongside group exhibitions like Biennale Jogja XVI (Indonesia) and ARTFEM Biennial (Macau).