Benjamin Abras (born 1975 in Belo Horizonte / Brazil) is an interdisciplinary contemporary artist, poet, dance-theater director, playwright, and essayist. His performances, installations, objects, drawings, and paintings reflect his experiences in the Afro-Brazilian traditions of Candomblé and Capoeira de Angola. He has performed, exhibited and done artistic residencies in England, Denmark, India, and Senegal. As a guest artist at the International Arts Festival FESMAN he presented the performance MASEMBA in 2010, performed at the Dakar Dak’Art Biennale in 2014, and Helsinki in 2019. He published the book Falanges, and recorded the CD What is silent is great. He completed a one-year immersion in the conceptual and technical practices of Afro-Butoh at the National Theater of Tunisia, where he is currently conducting research on the history of slavery in Africa. The result of this process will be the creation of his new book of essays and poems.
Benjamin Abras


KAZUMBANDA, (2016) based on the music by Brazilian musician and composer Marku Ribas.
events


Exhibitions
Paulo Nazareth: Nosotros los otros
Mendes Wood DM
New York, United States
06 May - 10 June 2022


Exhibitions
Magliani
Fundação Iberê Camargo
Porto Alegre, Brazil
19 March - 31 July 2022


Exhibitions
Água Banta
Memorial Municipal Getúlio Vargas
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
07 May - 19 June 2022


Exhibitions
Un lugar secreto, sombras en el bosque
Museo de Arte Afroamericano Venezuela
Caracas, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
19 March - 22 May 2022


Exhibitions
Aquí me quedo / Here I Stay
Institute for Contemporary Art
Richmond (VA), United States
06 May - 19 June 2022


Talks / Workshops
Negras imagens
Instituto Moreira Salles (online)
São Paulo, Brazil
17 May - 07 June 2022


Exhibitions
Encantadas
Schwules Museum
Berlin, Germany
11 March - 18 July 2022


Exhibitions
Espiral para sueños compartidos
Museo Universitario del Chopo
Ciudad de México, Mexico
29 January - 26 June 2022


Exhibitions
Primer junte de mujeres artistas afrodescendientes en Carolina
Museo Casa Escuté
Carolina, Puerto Rico
30 April - 14 May 2022


Exhibitions
Eu sei por que o pássaro canta na gaiola
Simões de Assis
São Paulo, Brazil
31 March - 21 May 2022


Exhibitions
Ayrson Heráclito: Yorùbáiano
Pinacoteca de São Paulo
São Paulo, Brazil
02 April - 22 August 2022


Festivals
FLAWA: Festival of Latin American Women in the Arts
London, United Kingdom
05 May - 14 May 2022
Most read



Installation View
Mercosul Biennial
The 11th edition of the Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial focuses on the Atlantic Triangle.



Inside the Library
The Black Library, Cuajinicuilapa, Mexico
A look into libraries and book collections holding some of the rarer and often forgotten publications. Featured this time: The Black Library in Mexico



“Manglaria: raíces y sujeciones”
Reimagining the Colombian Pacific
The exhibition brings together diverse perspectives on the territory and the Afro and indigenous representations in Colombia.


Installation View
The Jumbee Sea
The exhibition The Jumbee Sea contests colonial histories by reconfiguring collective memories from Saint Martin Island and the West Indies.


Make Techno Black Again
The Exhibition TECHNO Reveals Institutional Blind Spots
Art historian Jamila Moroder argues that an exhibition in Bolzano, Italy, disconnects techno from its Black heritage, and suggests we take a more complex view.


In Conversation with Tiago Sant'Ana
"The Naturalization of Whiteness as a Life Parameter"
Artist and researcher uses materials such as sugar to discuss the naturalization and erasure of a colonial past.


The Politics of Textile Art
The Unexpected Power of Threads
Two recent books focus on artists using textiles as a way of traversing politics and creating meaning.


Paulo Nazareth at the ICA Miami
Dismantling colonial power
The Brazilian artist offers a journey to understand the oppressive, exploitative nature of colonial history in his country.


Exhibition
Take Me to the River
A multimedia exhibition by the Goethe-Institut and the Prince Claus Fund Art and culture responds to the climate crisis.