Edson Chagas uses photography as a process in which he not only investigates daily life but also employs images in a pointed critique of consumerism. Images obtained from the everyday ‘things’ that surround us, in this sense, become existential beings. Through a specific methodology the viewer is invited to analyse and deconstruct these ‘documented times’, as well as their historical, social, geographical, ethnic, and economic associations.

Chagas has been subject to much acclaim having been part recipient to the prestigious Golden Lion for Best National Participation, awarded to the Angola Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy, in 2013. He was the principal exhibitor with his eponymous installation Luanda, Encyclopedic City. More recently Chagas was included in the touring exhibition The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory Revisited by Contemporary African Artists, curated by Simon Njami. It is currently on show at the National Museum of African Art — Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., USA.