Reimagining the iconography and the eroticization of Blackness in
Brazil
Brazilian artist Antonio Obá (born 1983) works across painting,
sculpture, installation and performance to explore the construction of
Black bodies in historical and political narratives. He is particularly
interested in how this construction figures within his own country,
frequently experimenting with Brazilian iconography. In his landscapes
and portraits, Obá either underscores the absence of Black figures in
local traditions or inserts Black figures into existing cultural
narratives.
Encompassing two decades of the artist's oeuvre, this survey offers the
most substantive presentation of his work to date. Curators Diane Lima
and Diana Campbell examine issues raised by Obá's multimedia oeuvre,
including allusions to racial and political identity, religious subjects
and the eroticization of the Black male body.
