Vai, vai, Saudade

The Museo Madre presents the group exhibition "Vai, vai, Saudade" curated by Cristiano Raimondi, offering a poetic itinerary explored through a series of stories related to the art produced in Brazil post-World War II. The exhibition takes its title from a samba composed by Heitor dos Prazeres (Rio de Janeiro, 1898-1966), a Carioca artist who was among the first to suffer censorship under the military dictatorship in 1964.

The rooms on the ground floor and second floor of the Museum host 194 works-along with documents and photographs-by fifty-two Brazilian artists from various generations: Jhony Aguiar (Marabá, PA, 2001), Maxwell Alexandre (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1990), Sidney Amaral (São Paulo, SP, 1973-2017), Antonio Henrique Amaral (São Paulo, SP, 1973-2017), Bajado (Maraial, PE, 1912-Olinda, PE, 1996), Hércules Barsotti (São Paulo, SP, 1914-2010), Conceição dos Bugres (Provinho de Santiago, RS, 1914 - Campo Grande, MS, 1984), Amilcar de Castro(Paraisópolis, SP, 1920 - Belo Horizonte, MG, 2002), Willys de Castro (Uberlândia, MG, 1926 - São Paulo, SP, 1988), Alex Červený (São Paulo, SP, 1963), Lygia Clark (Belo Horizonte, MG,1920 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1988), Antonio Dias (Campina Grande, PB, 1944 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 2018), Juraci Dórea (Feira De Santana, BA, 1944), Jaider Esbell (Normandia, Roraima, 1979 - São Paulo, SP, 2021), Hermelindo Fiaminghi (São Paulo, SP, 1920-2004), Davi de Jesus do Nascimento (Pirapora, MG, 1997), Eleonore Koch (Berlin, Germany, 1926 - São Paulo, SP, 2018), Lucia Koch (Porto Alegre, RS, 1966), Advânio Lessa (Lavras Novas, MG, 1981), Laura Lima (Governador Valadares, MG, 1971), Lidia Lisbôa (Guaíra, SP, 1970), Renata Lucas(Ribeirão Preto, SP, 1971), Ivens Machado (Florianópolis, SC, 1942 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 2015), Matheus Marques Abu (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1997), Maria Martins (Campanha, MG, 1894 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1973), Arjan Martins (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1960), Ana Mazzei (São Paulo, SP,1979), Cildo Meireles (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1948), Hélio Melo (Vila Antimari, Boca do Acre, 1926 - Goiânia, GO, 2001), Tomie Ohtake (Kyoto, Giappone, 1913 - São Paulo, SP, 2015), Hélio Oiticica (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1937-1980), Opavivará! (arts collective founded in Brazil in 2005), José Pancetti (Campinas, SP, 1902 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1958), Lygia Pape (Nova Friburgo, RJ, 1927 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 2004), Ana Prata (Sete Lagoas, MG, 1980), Heitor dos Prazeres (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1898-1966), Matheus Rocha Pitta (Tiradentes, MG, 1980), Gilvan Samico(Recife, PE, 1928-2013), Miguel dos Santos (Caruaru, PE, 1944), Agnaldo dos Santos (Ilha de Itaparica, BA, 1926 - Salvador, BA, 1962), Mira Schendel (Zurich, Switzerland, 1919 - São Paulo, SP, 1988), José Antônio da Silva (Sales Oliveira, SP, 1909 - São Paulo, SP, 1996), Francisco (Chico) da Silva (Alto Tejo, AC, 1910 - Fortaleza, CE, 1985), Miriam Inez da Silva(Trindade, RJ, 1937 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1996), Ariano Suassuna (João Pessoa, PB, 1927 - Recife, PE, 2014), Tunga (Palmares, PE, 1952 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 2016), Rubem Valentim(Salvador, BA, 1922 - São Paulo, SP, 1991), Adriana Varejão (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1964), Alfredo Volpi (Lucca, Italy, 1896 - São Paulo, SP, 1988), Liuba Wolf (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1923 - São Paulo, SP, 2005), Niobe Xandó (Campos Novos Paulista, SP, 1915-2010), Yuli Yamagata (São Paulo, SP,1989).

Put together through sometimes unexpected associations and dialogues between different artists, "Vai, vai, Saudade" opens with an initial chapter represented by a comparison between Lygia Pape's work Livro da Arquitetura (1959-60), which describes the history of man as a builder of civilization through an inventory of architectural archetypes, and a sacred way by Acre region artist Hélio Melo, who recounts the destruction of the natural habitat by humans defined as "civilized," using poetic metaphor and allegory. The path concludes with the series Era uma vez a Amazônia by Jaider Esbell, in which the artist tells of the impoverishment of the living conditions of the original peoples of the Amazon and the uncertain future of this land inhabited for generations in harmony with the ecosystem.

From the end of slavery, only repealed in 1888, to the mass immigrations from Italy, Lebanon, Japan and Germany, to the most recent "Bolsonarism," Brazil has made its way straddling positivism and democracy, dictatorship and censorship, frustration and hope, yet without ever abandoning the resilient spirit typical of countries that have experienced a colonial history: indeed, it has exported the struggle for the rights of the original and Afro-Brazilian populations all over the world by constituting a bulwark of humanist and democratic values.

The aim of the exhibition is therefore to present Brazil as a fertile land of ideas and artistic revolutions, a country that has proved itself capable of building an identity based on the enhancement of multiculturalism and the fusion of multiple languages by defying Eurocentric visions for a one-way art history. Brazil has been among the great avant-garde players on the world stage since the beginning of the last century, and there is no avant-garde without the observation of ancestral or those cultures simplistically considered "popular."