Crossroads physicalities — Paulo Nazareth and Cadernos de África

_corporeidades encruzilhadas --- Paulo Nazareth e Cadernos de África presents Paulo Nazareth’s project Cadernos de África. The project is composed of black and white images — from flyers to photos and videos — produced during the artist’s travels through the African continent, as well as in Brazil. Conceived in 2012, and still ongoing, Cadernos de África is guided by a series of motivations and goals the artist set for himself: to learn what at home is from Africa, to know Africa before getting to Europe, to learn what in Europe is from home, to learn what in Europe is from Africa, and to learn what in Africa is from home.

Through essays by researcher Napê Rocha, in dialogue with his images, as well as an interview with the artist, the book proposes a reading of this body of work that features the experiences of black physicalities present in Paulo Nazareth’s work and African and African-Brazilian thought, engaging concepts such as the crossroads, spiral time, and Atlantic transits. The edition includes a broad swath of images from Cadernos de África. In the interview Rocha conducts with Nazareth, they touch on the guiding principles of the artist’s work, his origins, his beginnings in art, his performances, and his relationship with land, writing and language.

About the artist
An old man born in Nak Borun, at the Vale do Watu, in Minas Gerais, Paulo Nazareth lives and works around the world, carrying many names, pseudonyms, sobriquets and nicknames, Awa Jeguakaí Rendá, Awa Jaguatá Haee Jopará, Awa Oguatua, Awa Jopará, Kachará, Bombom, Palmital, Cabeludo, James Brown, Jackson Five, Valderrama, Carlito, Bob, Rasta, Afro, Paulo, Mestre Paulo, Paulo Sérgio, Paulo da Silva, Mohamed, Mohammad Nazareth, Bin Laden, Osama, Al Qaeda, Talibã, Che, Ernesto Batista, Zé, José, João, Pedro, Nazareth de Jesus, Bugre, Borun, Fi da Ana, Filho da Ana, among many others, and all of this is his work. An artisan, spell collector and prayer apprentice, he was a student of Mestre Orlando (an afro-baiano carranqueiro and mascareiro artist living in Minas). His work is often the result of precise, simple gestures that bring forth broader ramifications, sensitizing the viewer to issues related to immigration, racism and colonialism. His strongest medium is the cultivation and construction of relationships with individuals who cross his path — especially those marginalized for their legal status or for being repressed by government authorities Nazareth’s work has been featured in collective shows such as the 56th Venice Biennale (2015); 22th Sydney Biennial (2020); 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2021); at the Museu Nacional da República, Brasília (2023); Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2023), among others. He hah solo shows at the Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte (2018); Institute of Contemporary Art - ICA Miami (2019); Galeria Pivô, São Paulo (2022); The Power Plant, Toronto (2022); FaE — Faculdade de Educação da UFMG —, Belo Horizonte (2023-24); and Inhotim, Brumadinho (2024-25).

About the author
Napê Rocha was born in 1991 in Vila Velha, Espírito Santo. She works as a professor, researcher, critic and curator of Visual Arts with a focus on afrodiasporic visualities, practices and poetics. She holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art Studies from the Contemporary Art Studies Graduate Program at Universidade Federal Fluminense (PPGCA-UFF) and a license in Visual Arts from Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Ufes). In 2020 she became part of the Programa de Pesquisa MAM Rio | Capacete, with her research on curatorship and crossroads in visual arts. She curated the show Gira (Museu Capixaba do Negro, 2019) and was part of the curator team of O Trauma é Brasileiro (Galeria Homero Massena, 2019), Como Não Subir uma Escada (Paço Imperial, 2021) and Okará-Xirê (Sesc Três Rios, Teresópolis e Nova Friburgo, 2023). Her work has been published in scholarly journals, catalogues and other places. _corporeidades encruzilhadas --- Paulo Nazareth e Cadernos de África is her first book.

Specifications
Title Corporeidades encruzilhadas — Paulo Nazareth e Cadernos de África [Crossroads physicalities — Paulo Nazareth and Cadernos de África]
Artist Paulo Nazareth
Author Napê Rocha
Language Portuguese
Page count 192
Publisher Cobogó
ISBN 978-65-5691-142-7
Cover André Victor
Format Softcover
Size 18 x 22 cm
Year 2024