Usujo (Manuel Henrique Venâncio) is an Angolan artist, born in Luanda-Cacuaco, currently based in Lisbon. His practice centers on abstract painting as a means of exploring the relationships between emotion, identity, and society, transforming personal experiences into visual narratives open to interpretation.
Influenced by graffiti and the urban culture that shaped his childhood in Angola, Usujo has developed a pictorial language in which acrylic and oil become tools for building memories, tensions, and feelings. His works do not seek to represent reality, but to reveal what often remains invisible: the conflict between belonging and displacement, the construction of identity, and the emotions that inhabit everyday life.
Living between Angola and Portugal, the artist investigates how experiences of migration, adaptation, and memory shape the way we relate to ourselves and to others. Each painting emerges as a space for reflection, inviting the viewer to find their own readings and emotions.
Currently, Usujo is dedicated to developing his visual identity and consolidating his artistic practice, with the aim of exhibiting in galleries and contributing to a contemporary dialogue on identity, culture, and transformation.