Paulo Nazareth: Nazarethana

“Nazarethana” unfolds as an epic in Cantos, weaving together the personal histories of Paulo Nazareth’s mother, Ana Gonçalves da Silva, and grandmother, Nazareth Cassiano de Jesus, with those of mothers and grandmothers worldwide. It invokes divinities from Greco-Roman, African, American, Brazilian and pre-Cabral traditions, blending oral narrative and official history to reflect on faith, politics and science. Each gallery space is defined by a colour chosen by the artist as a “sacred manifestation”, echoing his mother’s belief that art itself is sacred.

Nazareth’s grandmother worked on farms established on Borun Indigenous lands before being sent to the Colônia de Barbacena psychiatric hospital—later exposed in Daniela Arbex’s “Holocausto brasileiro”—where she remained for two decades until declared missing in 1964. In honour of her, Nazareth carries her name as an artistic precept, guiding his work and journeys.

The exhibition opens with black-painted walls evoking “Calunga”, the Afro-Brazilian entity linked to the sea and cemetery, symbolising the forced Atlantic crossings of enslaved peoples. A large illuminated sign, “Assembleia de deuses” [Assembly of Gods], transforms the gallery into a temple, celebrating human diversity and intangible presence.

A yellow room honours “Oxum”, lady of fresh waters and symbol of fertility, with drawings and bronze sculptures dedicated to water divinities from Africa, Europe and Brazil. The installation “Cinema tropical” follows, transforming a gallery into a cinema-temple with projected film and wheat-pasted posters—conceived for winter, it offers warmth and images of hope.

At the back of the gallery, “Mama” [Museum/Monument of the Mother], a travelling participatory project begun in Brazil, honours mothers worldwide. Visitors are invited to create portraits of their mothers through drawing and writing, forming a collaborative archive of maternity and ancestry. Nearby, a white space honours “Eleguá” or “Exu”, lord of paths and crossroads, with red and black beads saluting the orixá and connecting the spiritual and material realms.

Other Cantos include:

Earth-toned corridor: dedicated to “Yansan”, orixá of transformation and movement, with paintings of Black and Indigenous Catholic saints alongside portraits of Ana wearing saint-printed t-shirts.

Rose-coloured room: devoted to “Ewá”, divinity of vision and intuition, with photographs, “pontos riscados” drawn in pemba chalk, and a reimagined “Last supper” featuring resin replicas of consumer products named after saints, from which visitors may drink water.

The epilogue is marked by a sand-filled pool beneath embroidered words: “Nós podemos nadar / We can swim”. The installation recalls the artist’s own inability to swim, shaped by maternal warnings and histories of violence. The blue walls evoke sky and sea, while sand and cobblestones from Dakar reference ancestral memory and crossings between continents.

By mapping familial, divine and territorial lineages, “Nazarethana” creates a cartography of memory. Through what Nazareth calls an “art of precept”—acts spoken, prayed and performed as sacred—the exhibition becomes a plural time-space of communion, reflection and learning.