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Nilva Belo, HerStory series, 2021
Oil on linen
Ballpoint pen on bond paper
Manuscript: 43 x 34 x 4 cm
I came from afar, curious and enchanted by that flirt in the straw hat, pink ribbon and polka dot dress leaning on the window of the colonial house in the village square of Olhos D'Agua until I was startled by the flushed face, swollen and watery eyes of the girl. It felt like a scene from an old movie, something different from my urban reality.
When I looked closely, I saw that it was Nilva, a city leader who stood out in the fight for education. As a child, Nilva lived with her mother Vilma in the forest, until they moved to the village, and it was through books that Nilva identified and recognized herself, and that is why she believed in taking the stories from books to others.
I only knew Nilva from her stories told by the other, many women who celebrated her, but there's always that other Macho, who with his repression, uses her image as a flirt to disqualify her: nothing new for women!
That day, the flirt invited me into the privacy of the house and told me that a man was chasing her, and that he had called Maria da Penha in order to have her right to be free and happy and to live a life without violence.
Nilva is a great woman for that reason, she set herself free and for no moment allowed herself to be limited, neither by her partner who at some point threatened her, nor by the owners of sharp tongues who insisted that that pretty flirtatious doll by the window could for a minute be bad adjective. I want to be a big doll like Nilva Belo."
Painting accompanied by a report printed on sulfite paper folded on its back.
Exhibitions
HerStory
Republic Museum
Curatorship: Keyna Eleison
Rio de Janeiro, RJ
2020 | 2021
HerStory
Cora Coralina Cultural Village
Curatorship: Keyna Eleison and Gilmar Camilo
GoiĆ¢nia - GO
2022
HerStory
Cubo de Vidro Gallery, CEFET RJ
Rio de Janeiro, RJ
2022