MITbr - PLATAFORMA BRASIL
PERFORMA12h
Axexê da Negra or The Rest of the Women Who Deserved to Be Loved
Axexê da Negra ou o Descanso das Mulheres que Mereciam Ser Amadas
ARTIST: Renata Felinto
75 min | Ages 16+
- March 12, Thursday, 9:30pm
- iBT - Instituto Brasileiro de Teatro| Avenida Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, 277, Bela Vista
- Accessible Location
SYNOPSIS
Drawing on the idea of axexê—a rite of farewell and passage—as both poetic and political language, the performance by visual artist Renata Felinto establishes a critical dialogue with A Negra, the painting by Tarsila do Amaral, challenging the tradition of hypervisibility and objectification of the Black body in Brazil. Through gesture, duration, and materiality, the work elaborates mourning, repair, and care as forms of symbolic restitution. By reclaiming rest as a right and an ethical urgency, the performance creates a space of transition that summons memory and dignity for Black women who have historically been denied the possibility of being loved.
BACKGROUND
Renata Felinto is a visual artist, researcher, and professor living between Crato (CE) and São Paulo (SP), Brazil. An Afro-diasporic woman and mother of Benedita Nzinga and Francisco Madiba, she holds a BA, MA, and PhD in Visual Arts (IA/Unesp) and a specialization in curatorship and education in art museums (MAC/USP). In 2023, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology of art and was an artist-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). She is currently an Associate Professor at URCA (CE) and leads the research group NZINGA (CNPq). She previously coordinated the Education Department at the Museu Afro Brasil and served as curator of the 15th Bienal Naïfs do Brasil, in addition to presenting numerous solo and group exhibitions.
CREDITS
Artist and Director: Renata Felinto
Production: Victor Hugo Felinto
Soundscape: Marcos Felinto
Costume Design: Andrea Sobreira, Renata Felinto