From Indigenous photography as reclaiming to the first black female Vice President of Colombia, these are some of our most read articles of the year
Upper left: Edgar Kanaykõ, The Sky Breathes the Earth, and Everything is Filled with Science - Pajé Xakriabá, 2015. Courtesy of the artist. Upper right: Francia Márquez. Photo: Made in Choco. Bottom left: Mulambö, Power. Photo: João da Motta. Bottom right: Abdias Nascimento, Bay of Blood (Luanda), 1996, Acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100 cm. Ipeafro Collection, Rio de Janeiro.
In conversation with Edgar Kanaykõ: Photography as reclaiming Edgar Kanaykõ, a Xakriabá indigenous artist, moves between the culture of his people and white culture, but his feet remain grounded in his territory. For him, photography is a tool of struggle and resistance. “What we do in the field of contemporary art is reclaiming art-making to ensure our existence”.
In Conversation with Mulambö: Carnival was my art school The artist from Rio, Mulambö, likes to work with materials, objects and images that are thought of as “ordinary,” but which carry an enormous historical and subjective burden. What truly brings him joy is when his art goes back to school and reaches children and the youth: “That’s what really makes the work come alive.”
Colombia Francia Márquez: From Social Struggle to the Vice-Presidency of Colombia Feminist, antiracist, revolutionary and decolonial, a single mother, singer and poet, Francia Márquez represents the daily struggles of racialized women in Colombia. In this profile, we talk about her incredible political and personal career and elucidate how her historic achievement can change Colombia and the arts in Latin America.
Lula with wife his Janja, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin and wife Lu. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert
Brazil A new government and new hope for art producers in Brazil With 51% of votes, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil, and will be inaugurated for the third time in 2023. After four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right presidency, which neglected the arts and culture, hope among artists and producers is unanimous, starting with the re-establishment of the country’s Ministry of Culture.
Panamefricanism Abdias Nascimento: An Enduring Legacy This year, two institutions in Brazil are celebrating more than seven decades of the Afro-Brazilian artist’s international artistic contributions.
enorê, Video still. Courtesy of the artist
In Conversation with enorê Brazilian Artist enorê Explores the Creative Language of Data enorê, whose work challenges the idea of fluidity by connecting digital and non-digital art, speaks to C&AL about visible and invisible realities.
Installation View Walter Firmo: In the Verb of Silence, the Synthesis of the Scream Exhibition at the Moreira Salles Institute traces a panorama of Walter Firmo’s oeuvre, bringing together more than 260 works by the Rio artist, with images that include cultural and religious manifestations, iconic portraits of artists like Pixinguinha and Clementina de Jesus, produced from the 1950s to the present.
Cuba Belkis Ayón and the Cuba-West Africa Connection With her ongoing showing at The Milk of Dreams (Venice Biennale), and a recently-ended retrospective at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, there is a revived interest in Belkis Ayón’s work. But who are the Abakuá secret society, a central subject in the artist’s work, and how did their Afrodiasporic history and tradition influence Ayón? What does it mean for the Abakuá to be given global visibility by someone who was banned from participating as a woman?
Kukily Collective, Photo of the performance "Bustos" (Busts) at the event Maratón LODO, 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina. There are the four members of the collective: Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald, Jasmin Sanchez, Julia Cohen Ribeiro, Lina Lasso. Photo: Sabia Vargas
Argentina Kukily: Connecting Afro-descendant Communities through Art Kukily—pronounced coo-clay—is a word that means “all of us” in the language of the Kpelle people from Liberia. The name was given to the collective by Colleen’s mother who formed the group together with Lina, Julia and Jasmín. We spoke with them about what it means for the Afro-descendant community to create in Argentina and beyond its national borders.
In Conversation with Francisco Pinto and Venezuelan Afro-Indigenous History Having begun his artistic career without any formal education, Francisco Pinto’s work moves from drawing to collage and then to digital art, textile art, assemblage, and installation. Nohora Arrieta Fernández talks with the artist about how to pay tribute to cultural heritage through black humor and with references to comics and Basquiat.
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