Page 97 - artebrasileiros-64

started photographing the territory in 2010. outskirts, professor Gey Espinheira told SHOW THE INVISIBLE
Vilma and I, faced with the death of five me He asked me to study the beauty Jose Eduardo – We are looked af er
different artists from the territory, started of the Railway Suburb of Salvador by a large number of people who help
looking around the city in thrif stores and and then, together with Vilma and us develop actions such as workshops,
markets for the works of these artists so that photographer Marco Illuminati, we chats on the roof, guided tours and
people from the Suburb knew them”, he says. started photographing the territory in af er the website came invitations for
Of the five exhibitions mentioned, four 2010. Vilma and I, faced with the death exhibitions at mam Rio, mam-ba, Sesc
are collective, which present the Acervo da of five different artists from the territory, Pompeia, and now at Solar Ferrão with
Laje among other collections and territories, started looking for the city. The works Future Brazil: the forms of democracy,
pointing to its character as an off-axis place of these artists were displayed in thrif at mar Rio and at sesc Belenzinho.
that positions itself as a space that gives stores and markets so that people in Perhaps the idea of the Collection is
visibility to a series of artists/craf smen – the the area could see them. As we lived to show the invisible and break the
category here is not what matters most – in a house on the slab, the Acervo da hegemonic canons of Brazilian arts,
that are not known. The mar exhibition Laje emerged in 2010, and we then had and that is why we always dialogue with
is a kind of step forward, as, by dedicating to move to a rented house until we built many curators such as Keyna Eleison,
itself to one of the artists in the Collection, our house, in 2015, which is also part of Pablo de La Fuente, Marcelo Campos,
César Bahia, with more than 200 works the Acervo da Laje. Clarissa Diniz, Igor Simões, Lisette
produced between 2010 and 2023, it begins Lagnado, André Pitol, Yudi Rafael, João
to give visibility and insert its name in an BUY AND SELL Angelino, Ayrson Heráclito, Marina
institutional way . Jose Eduardo – The works were and are Fokidis, Ruth Noack, Luiza Proença, the
Through the six places where the Acervo purchased, found in discards or received curators of the 31st São Paulo Biennial,
da Laje is exhibited, as one of the exhibitions as donations by artists, residents and at which we were invited to speak.
is divided into two spaces, it is possible friends. At the beginning, I was doing a We participated in the third Bienal
to see how the circuit perceives the post-doctorate at pnpd, and this helped da Bahia and before that we held many
relevance and originality of this initiative. us a lot with research, identifying artists exhibitions here on the slabs on the
It is presented on its website as “a space for and then we started doing two projects outskirts of Salvador with the #Ocupa
artistic, cultural and research memory about to make these artists and their works Lajes project in two editions (2016 and
the Railway Suburb of Salvador”. Around visible. It’s been 13 years of work, and we 2018), moving the entire city. In other
10% of the population of the capital of Bahia didn’t know what we had in both houses. words, since its inception, the Acervo da
lives in this region. During the pandemic we obtained a Laje has always sought to avoid leveling
Among the curators who worked at the notice to catalog the initial works on what it means to be a space of art and
Collection are at least two who took care of the website, as well as the creation of memory on the outskirts, we have
Documenta in Kassel, such as Ruth Noak the newspaper library, all of this with always dialogue with all the people who
and Marina Fokidis, and three involved in the participation of many people from visit us, from children, young people and
past editions of the São Paulo Biennale, the territory, particularly young people adults and people from around the world
such as Lisette Lagnado, Pablo Lafuente and residents who participated in the whole, because Brazilian arts need to
and Paulo Miyada. actions with professionals from the know the productions of artists from
Currently, 611 works by 30 artists are areas of museology, archive, design the peripheries, and they must have
accessible on the website, in addition to and others. their names in history, and no longer
other general categories such as Tiles, Every month we took part of our be considered creators of a lesser art.
Home Collection, Toys or The Beauty of meager earnings to buy works to
Suburbs, among others. This last session, generate and disseminate artistic ALWAYS FIGHTING
for example, brings together digital creation in the territory. Vilma taught Jose Eduardo – In the same way that
photographs that participated in the “teaching” [school reinforcement the memory of the peripheries needs to
exhibition The Beauty of Suburbs carried classes] here at Acervo, and I was a be told by us, the same needs to happen
out with students from São João do Cabrito university professor, but during the with the democratization of curators,
and Itacaranha who participated in an pandemic I fell ill and resigned from always in dialogue. And when a person
exhibition in December 2013, in the São the university, as I received R$250 as a is interested in an artist, we recommend
João do Cabrito neighborhood. salary. Then we stopped buying works them so that we don’t become the new
José Eduardo, who was at the opening of more regularly. But, before that, the colonizers, lol. And that. The Acervo da
Dos Brasis, last August, sent a statement collections were already formed in Laje was born from a couple, it multiplies
by email about the project, based on a very both houses and constituted part of in the community of the Subúrbio
broad question, which concerned how the Acervo da Laje. Ferroviário de Salvador, it is linked to
the Collection was created and whether We do not sell the works, as they the new generations who are starting
works that belong to it are sold. To help with are part of the Acervo da Laje, which to work with culture and art, and in the
reading, we made some thematic divisions is the only museum-house-school in exhibitions we hold outside of here we
in the answer: the Railway Suburb of Salvador, and try to get as many people as possible to
there are also many materials and works come with us and have another horizon,
THE BEGINNING OF THE COLLECTION that we find discarded such as plaques, no longer the one that was relegated to
Jose Eduardo – We started the bricks from old potteries, sculptures and us, to invisibility and exclusion. Anyway,
Collection in 2010 from research on all of this is also part of the Collection. we work without money, but with a lot
the invisible art of beauty workers in When we manage to approve a project, of curation and dialogue, and when
the outskirts of Salvador, because, we also reserve a small resource to things get tough we campaign, ask for
when I finished my doctorate in Public purchase the works, as we consider support, but no formal support has
Health, studying the repercussions of this to be important for the territory been granted to us to date. Everything
homicide among young people in the and its artists. is always – and always will be – with a
97