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.

Text by: Diana Campbell, Diane Lima