Villa Arson welcomes visual artist and researcher Abiniel João Nascimento, in residence from September 16 to December 13, 2024. They are the first laureate of the cross-residency program initiated between Villa Arson and Pivô with the support of the Consulate general of France in São Paulo and Impactart.
They are part of the indigenous collective Alfazema Braba, whose actions are aimed at a land-oriented education. They are also part of the CARNI Black and Indigenous Art Collective, created in 2016 in the state of Pernambuco (Brazil), whose actions aim to democratize black and indigenous artists’ access to cultural goods and foster their financial and creative autonomy.
Invoking memory, language and the imaginary, their artistic research focuses on the intersections between spirituality, territoriality and corporality, which constitute the complexity of existences marginalized by coloniality.
Their first solo exhibition, Aceiro (2022), was presented at the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation in Recife at the end of a FUNDAJ artistic residency. In 2022, they took part in the Nantes – Recife cross-residency program and presented their second solo show Além. Aquém. Aqui. at Paradise Gallery in Nantes (France).
Their work has been presented in group shows: Raio A Raio (2022) at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio de Janeiro and Afluente at ArtRio contemporary art fair (2021), in collaboration with Solar dos Abacaxis, as well as at the VERBO Annual Performance Festival at Vermelho Gallery in São Paulo (2022).
Abiniel João Nascimento curated the exhibition Hoje somos muitas árvores (Today we are many trees) in 2021, bringing together – for the first time – fifteen indigenous artists or collectives from different territories in the Northeast region of Brazil.
They took part in the seminar Boca de mundos (Mouth of worlds) at YGREC Art Center at Paris-Cergy National School of Art (2022), in the context of Edson Barrus Atikum and Yann Beauvais exhibition Imburaninha.
In 2023, Abiniel completed a research residency in Pivô (São Paulo).
They hold a degree in museology from the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, and are currently preparing a master’s degree in visual arts. They also trained in photography at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro.
Pivô
Pivô is a non-profit art space providing a platform for exchange, critical thinking and artistic experimentation inside one of São Paulo’s most iconic modernist buildings, the Copan, projected by Oscar Niemeyer in the city’s central area. Since its inception, in 2012, the institution has enabled and facilitated projects to over 400 artists and curators both local and international and in all career stages.
As part of the cross-residency program initiated between Villa Arson and Pivô, Ibrahim Meïté Sikely, a graduate of Villa Arson, is in residence at Pivô from August 20 to November 17, 2024.