Image credits: Pétala Lopes

In São Paulo, we examined the history of the Mãe Preta monument located at Largo do Paissandu, which is a major landmark for the memory of slavery in the city centre. This city square is currently undergoing a period of urban degeneration along with the slow yet forceful erasure of significant Black memories from the urban space.

This square has also become a dystopic scenario where dozens of homeless people huddle around the statue, following the collapse of the Wilton Paes building in May 2018, which made the acute housing crisis in the continent’s richest city all the more apparent.

The statue forms a link to the monument Zumbi dos Palmares – which pays homage to one of the earliest Black heroes in Brazilian history, a maroon who held up a resistance against the Portuguese for several decades in the 17^th century – located in the nearby Praça Antônio Prado, as a poor attempt to re-inscribe the Black memories that the urban planning has torn asunder.

The exhibition was opened by a performance by Glauce Pimenta Rosa and Jessica Castro.

This exhibition was made possible with the support of the Brazilian National Arts Foundation, through the prize Conexão e Circulação Artes Visuais. 

The exhibition was opened by a performance by Glauce Pimenta Rosa and Jessica Castro.