Artists: Denilson Baniwa, Moara Brasil, Pedro Victor Brandão, Yhuri Cruz, Odaraya Mello
Curator: Laura Burocco
The exhibition contemplates the current debate of the decolonization of museums and the recovering of silenced histories. It opens with a performance by Denilson Baniwa at the 33 Biennial of SP. The indigenous artist creates a personal and powerful response to a questionable curatorial work presented by a white artist who was part of the biennial. The critique does not end here but expands creatively into the work produced by Moara Brasil, another indigenous artist, who questions identity by attempting to redeem her ancestrality through a journey into her family memories. Both the artworks of black artist Yuri Cruz and Odaraya Mello deal with their reality as Africans in diaspora and bring references to Afro-Brazilian religions. Cruz presents ‘A monument to Oxalá', an Afro-descendant entity for the Brazilian Candomblé. This recalls the idea of western monument and its resignification by the Afro-descendant Brazilian artist. Mello’s work shows the measurement of a time that leads to continuation and thus links to a journey of belonging to religious cults of African origin. These artworks by Brazilian indigenous and black artists dialogue with the photographic work of the white artist Pedro Victor Brandão that questions the supposed civilization, the value of money and theft. Brandão's series references the capitalist system on which Western civilization is built upon, the illegality and disrespect that are implicit in this system.
