Museu Afro Brasil – Museum in Brazil

About the Museu Afro Brasil

The Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo is an institution of the Secretariat of Culture, Economy and Creative Industry of the State of São Paulo, administered by the Associação Museu Afro Brasil – Organização Social de Cultura.

Opened in 2004, from the private collection of its founder, Emanoel Araujo (1940-2022), the museum is a space of history, memory and art. Located in the Padre Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, inside the most famous park in São Paulo, Parque Ibirapuera, the Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo preserves, in approximately 12 thousand m².

Museu Afro Brasil is a public institution, and managed by Associação Museu Afro Brasil – Organização Social de Cultura (Museu Afro-Brasil Association – Social Organization for Culture)

It aims to be a contemporary museum where the black people can be recognized.

Over than 6,000 works highlight the importance of African people in the formation of Brazilian culture, heritage and identity as known nowadays. Also, it offers a celebration of the art and accomplishments of the Africans and Afro-Brazilians.

The Collection is considered the largest Afro – American in American with more than 6,000 masterpieces, sculptures, documents, engravings, ceramics, paintings, contemporary arts, jewelry, objects, reliefs, photographs and textiles.

Over than 70% of the collection is in the long term exhibition, portraying mainly Brazil, some countries from the African Continent, Cuba, Haiti and the United States.

The Afro Brazil Museum was inaugurated on October 23, 2004 by Emanoel Araujo (1940-2022), establishing itself as an essential moment for the appreciation of African and Afro-diasporic contributions to the formation of the country. Since then, the museum has become a space of memory, resistance, and creation, focused on recognizing the struggles, achievements, and legacies of black people.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Afro Brazil Museum, an institution of the Secretariat of Culture, Economy, and Creative Industry, is showing three exhibitions that discuss different facets of Afro-Brazilian art, history, and culture: “A History of Power in Africa,” “Popular, Popular,” and “Thinking and Rethinking, Doing and Redoing.” The exhibitions feature works that are part of the Museum space and reflect on the past and future of the institution.

The productions on display reproduce the challenges that black people face and reimagine the trajectory of the struggle of the black population in Brazil, recognizing the paving of this path over the centuries and its impact on Brazilian society.

A History of Power in Africa – An in-depth look at African centrality

The Ministry of Culture presents “A History of Power in Africa”, inspired by the ideas of Cheikh Anta Diop, “A History of Power in Africa” highlights the relevance of Africa in the formation of world civilizations, recognizing ancient Egypt as an integral part of the African continent. The works on display explore the intersection between past and present, with emphasis on Egyptian relics that reinforce the cultural and historical importance of Egypt for sub-Saharan Africa.

Two contemporary names stand out: Angolan Damara Inglês and Guinean Gisela Casimiro, artists with works specially commissioned for this exhibition. Both bring current perspectives that dialogue with the concept of power and African ancestry, contributing to a critical reinterpretation of African art in its various manifestations.

Among the most striking artifacts and works are the Throne of the Kingdom of Dahomey, the Luba Bench and the Bronze Head of Yoba, in addition to rare pieces from the ancient Egyptian civilization. The cultural connections between Egypt and the rest of Africa, so strongly advocated by Diop, are highlighted throughout the exhibition, which is divided into five thematic sections.

Popular, Populares – The plurality of the ‘popular’ in the arts

The exhibition “Popular, Populares” arrives at an opportune moment, coinciding with the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Museu Afro Brasil. It addresses questions about what is defined as “popular” in the arts, challenging the categorizations that often label these artists as “naïve” or with little academic training.

The exhibition presents works by masters such as Cândido Santos Xavier, Luiz Antônio da Silva, Ciça – Cícera Fonseca da Silva, M. L. C. – Maria de Lurdes Cândido, Jadir João Egidio, M. C. M. – Maria Cândido Monteiro, Mestre Noza, Manuel Graciano Cardoso, Mestre Vitalino (and family), Véio and Dedé.

The plurality of popular art is explored in several dimensions, from multicolored and anthropomorphic pieces to the minimalism of forms. The works are exhibited in dialogue, allowing the visitor an immersive experience. The journey begins with the boats of Exu by Cândido Santos Xavier, passes through the memories and sculpted portraits of the “Quilombola Family” by Mauro Firmino and ends with the fantastic realism of mermaids and mythical Brazilian beings, with sculptures by Resêndio and Manuel Graciano Cardoso.

The questioning of what is “popular” runs through the entire exhibition, with the museum challenging stereotypical views about the place of these works in the history of Brazilian art. Popular art, always plural, reveals the resistance and daily survival of its creators.

Thinking and Rethinking, Doing and Redoing – Reflections on the Museum’s Legacy, a Timeline of Resistance

Over two decades, the Museu Afro Brasil has hosted and promoted exhibitions that celebrate Afro-Brazilian history and culture, and also challenge narratives that limit the role of black people in Brazil and the world. Exhibitions such as “Brazilian, Brazilians” (2004), “Benin is still alive there” (2007) and “This is a black thing – 130 years since the abolition of slavery: art, history and memory” (2018) demonstrate the museum’s efforts to position itself as a space for collective struggle.

Tributes to iconic black figures

In parallel with the exhibition, the Museu Afro Brasil pays tribute to historical figures who represent the struggle and the conquest of space for the black population in Brazil, such as Ruth de Souza, a pioneering actress and the first black woman to star in a play in Brazilian theater, who gives her name to the museum’s theater, and Carolina Maria de Jesus, a writer and paper collector, whose name is given to the institution’s library.

These personalities are examples of resistance and symbolize the social transformation that the museum has been working towards since its founding.

The legacy of Emanoel Araujo

Emanoel Araujo, who directed the Museu Afro Brasil until 2022, was a tireless defender of black culture and the plurality of Afro-Brazilian narratives. He challenged the limited view of history, proposing a museum in constant transformation, where the past and the present intertwine to retell the history of the black diaspora in a broad and complex way.

The concept of “thinking and rethinking” guides the new exhibition and reflects the vision that the museum is a space that promotes dynamism, always open to all.

Source: https://vivaacidadenews.com.br/

(Translated from Portuguese)

Website of the Museum. http://www.museuafrobrasil.org.br/

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