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Rosana Paulino: Art as Memory-Work

Rosana Paulino, Parede de Memória, 1994–2015, acrylic patuás, cotton thread, paper, watercolour, variable dimensions, approximately 8 x 8 x 3cm each. Photograph: Isabella Matheus. Courtesy the artist and Mendes Wood
Jareh Das looks at how artist Rosana Paulino reclaims and redresses the representation of Black women through a process of refazimento (‘remaking’) which upends the notion of racial democracy and equality within Brazilian society. Focusing on two installations – Tacelãs and Parede da Memória – Das examines how hand-work (stitching, moulding, crafts) is turned into memory-work, a form of embodied remembrance against the violent strictures of history and society.

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