Black Art in Brazil: Expressions of Identity

6. Rosana Paulino

S I X Rosana Paulino Rosana Paulino (b. 1967) is a native of the sprawling city of São Paulo. As someone whose work is not confined to just one genre in terms of media, style, or content, she mirrors the diversity of her environment. Paulino employs both the formal art schooling she received through her undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of São Paulo and the informal instruction, including sewing lessons, she received from her mother in her production. She often explores themes related to gender and frequently incorporates autobiographical elements in her work. Since the early 1990s, her diverse creative expression has earned her work inclusion in numerous national and international exhibitions organized around various themes and media. Her prints, sculptures, and drawings provide a rare glimpse into the black female experience, a viewpoint which has been all but absent from discourse and examinations of the history of black artistic production in Brazil. Paulino has had an impressive academic career, which accounts for only part of her artistic foundation. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in printmaking in 1995 from the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo. In 2008, midway through her Master of Fine Arts studies there, the department fast-tracked her into the doctoral program due to the advanced level of her work. She received her doctorate in 2011. In addition to her university studies, Paulino’s artistic formation came from her family (Interview by the author, August 2, 2003). She and her sisters often sewed their own toys, a skill they learned from their mother. In Brazil, sewing is widely practiced by females of all ages. Mothers still frequently teach their daughters to sew, and there are many popular art forms, including a variety of hand-sewn and hand-embroidered decorative items, which women commonly sell at markets and street stands throughout the country. In contrast, Paulino’s knowledge of print work is a result of her university training (Interview by the author, July 12, 2006). It is also her primary medium of expression. Despite her diversification into sculpture and Rosana Paulino 129 installation, drawing, as part of her print process, has maintained a principal role. Prints and sculptures inspire drawings and vice-versa. As the artist has several expressive outlets, she turns to the artwork itself to determine the appropriate form. Paulino feels that the work “asks to be done” in a specific medium (Interview by the author, July 12, 2006). When she explores a certain theme, she frequently experiments with different media until she senses a response from the material. As such, it is the piece rather than the artist that determines the form. Paulino’s artistic diversity has boded well for her career. Curators have included her work in a variety of domestic and international exhibitions. In Brazil, Emanoel Araújo, Kabengele Munanga, and Marta Heloísa Leuba Salum emphasize the African-influenced aspects of her work, integrating her pieces into shows of Afro-Brazilian art such as The Heirs of the Night (1994–1995), held at the Pinacoteca do Estado Museum in São Paulo; the Afro-Brazilian Art module of the Rediscovery Exhibition (2000); and the second Festival of Black Art (2003), held in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Other individuals in national art circles, whom Paulino met primarily through her university studies, have also shown interest in her production. She has worked and studied with several of the country’s foremost artists and critics, including Regina Silvera, Carlos Evandro Jardim, Katia Canton , Walter Zanini, Annateresa Fabris, and especially Tadeu Chiarelli, who has long been a supporter of her art. Her works have been included in such exhibitions as Panorama of Brazilian Arts, organized by São Paulo’s Museum of Modern Art (1997); the IV Mercosul Biennial held in Rio Grande do Sul (2003); Women Artists/Contemporary Views, organized by the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Contemporary Art; and Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition, The Poetics of Perception (2008). She had two individual exhibitions at the Adriana Penteado Gallery in São Paulo in 1995 and 1997, individual shows at São Paulo’s Cultural Center in 1994 and 2000, and two individual shows at São Paulo’s Galeria Virgilio in 2006 and 2010, among others. In a relatively short time, Paulino’s production has also garnered a level of international attention. In 2001 she participated in Virgin...