MANACÁ
Although often exaggerated, the stereotypical image of a lush, verdant Brazil is not entirely unfounded. While the Amazon Rainforest is the country’s most famous biome, its lesser-known sister, the Atlantic Forest, is equally vital – the latter is estimated to be home to some twenty thousand plant species, accounting for over 30% of the nation’s floral diversity. One such is the manacá [Tibouchina mutabilis], which boasts an intriguing feature: on a single tree, one can see flowers in three different colours at the same time. At first, the flower is white; it then takes on a pink hue; and finally, it turns into a rich purple. Rather than fading with time, it grows in complexity and accumulates beauty.
Modernists of Brazil, driven by their ambition to create an art that was truly ‘Brazilian’, adopted the manacá as one of their symbols. It appears in one of the most important modernist works, Manacá (1927) by Tarsila do Amaral, and also features in Mario de Andrade’s Hino do Grupo Gambá [Hymn of the Gambá Group], where the women of the circle are affectionately nicknamed manacás.
In Manacá, each photographic series unfolds like a branch from the same trunk, which is rooted in the work of the Brazilian artist Juli Manara, who has made London her home for almost fifteen years. In the central series, we present two previously unseen works – a photographic composition and a sculpture – that reference the Brazilian flower. A series of botanical works crowns Manara’s enduring interest in the natural world. This attentive gaze upon nature is already evident in her earlier black & white pieces, where animals, plants and rocks inspire compositions that give form to surreal visions. Her experimental videos also explore elements of nature – one example casts its eye on the abundantly natural Rio de Janeiro. It is noteworthy too, much like the manacá flowers, Manara’s works have gradually acquired richer colours and layers over time.
By staging an exhibition on this theme in London, we affirm that regardless of the migratory journey of a tree, an animal, or a person, there is always a seed that retains the memory of its place of origin. With this exhibition, we consider works that offer a glimpse of Juli Manara’s seed – a dreamlike universe replete with references to both real and surreal worlds, within Brazil and beyond; an anthropophagic seed, that is unmistakably Brazilian.
Luiza Testa
Curator