Enciclopédia Negra: Pinacotheque of The State of São Paulo | Rio Art Museum
Part of the "Enciclopédia Negra" (Black Encyclopedia) project, with a book published by Companhia das Letras and organized by Lilia M. Schwarcz, Flávio Gomes, and Jaime Lauriano, the exhibition at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo highlights black personalities who were not represented by Brazil's hegemonic history.
Panmela Castro participates in the exhibition with five works: Catarina Cassange (featured in the book), Lourença Correia, Mathias Henrique da Silva and Faustino da Silva Paiva, Felipa Maria Aranha and Ana, Deolinda and Isabel, capoeiristas.
The stories told through Panmela's paintings depict enslaved people who created a reading club during the fervor of abolition, as well as women capoeiristas, quilombola leaders, revolutionaries, and challengers of gender binary impositions. Through these questions, the artist identifies in these biographies experiences that are part not only of her trajectory, but also of so many others who challenge racism and sexism on a daily basis in Brazil.
In 2022, the exhibition was remounted at the Museu de Arte do Rio. "In the exhibition MAR Collection + Black Encyclopedia, of the 250 works of art on display, 13 are new portraits created by 6 contemporary artists, invited by MAR. Curators Marcelo Campos and Amanda Bonan also created a dialogue, especially with the African and Afro-Brazilian collection of the Museu de Arte do Rio" (text taken from the exhibition's page on the Museu de Arte do Rio website).
All works produced by artist Panmela Castro for the exhibition are now part of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo's collection. The book Black Encyclopedia can be found on the Companhia das Letras publisher's website.
