Upon entering the Tufts University Art Galleries’ exhibition of Véxoa: Nós Sabemos, you are greeted by a vibrant variety of colors, mediums and sounds. Véxoa, originally showcased in the Pinacoteca de São Paulo in Brazil, found its new home at Tufts this September.

The exhibit, curated by Naine Terena, features the work of 22 contemporary Brazilian Indigenous artists from a wide range of regions and peoples. Terena herself is a member of the Terena people of Brazil, making Véxoa the first art exhibit in Brazil to be curated by an Indigenous person.

Claudia Avolese, a senior lecturer in the visual and material studies department at the SMFA, has led the project through its transition from São Paulo to Medford as TUAG’s guest

organizer of Véxoa.

“I moved to the U.S. in 2019. When I was still in Brazil, as a professor at the University of Campinas in São Paulo, I was following the whole process of putting together the concept of the exhibition, the invitation to [Terena],” Avolese said. “So when I moved and was hired at Tufts, this was in my mind because Boston … is the place with the largest Brazilian community outside of Brazil.”

Avolese worked closely with Terena to bring Véxoa to a new space while preserving its main principles and artworks.

Véxoa means “we know” in the Terena language. Avolese said that the title conveys that the Indigenous artists of this exhibit are speaking for themselves.

“They know what they need. They know what they want, and it is about opening a space for their voice,” Avolese said.

Véxoa showcases many different styles of art, ranging from Buriti fiber masks and hanging textiles to massive, vibrant paintings and documentary-style film. This is in part supported by the diversity of the artists, who hail from completely different peoples and regions of Brazil.

“To [Terena], this is a space to put different cultures from these different Indigenous perspectives in dialogue,” Avolese said.

For Avolese, a hanging installation by Kya Agari particularly stands out. 

“The textile, the way it hangs and when you start to walk through them, they kind of move and become alive,” she said. “So if you’re looking at it far away, it seems like abstract drawings, and when you start to relate to it, this idea of the corporeality of the work and the performativity of the work becomes more and more present to you.”

Agari made this textile piece specifically for the TUAG installment of Véxoa. The untitled work originally appeared painted on the walls of the São Paolo exhibition.

 “When we asked [Agari] if we could reproduce the work, she said she actually wanted to change it and do a different work,” Avolese explained.

Some Tufts students may have viewed Véxoa independently on a self-led walk, but some have experienced a course-specific tour led by Elizabeth Canter, manager of academic programs for TUAG.

“Studio art classes might be really interested in the process and materials that are being used in the exhibition, whereas [an] anthropology of the environment class was maybe thinking more about how these Indigenous artists are simultaneously artists and activists really engaged in the fight for their Indigenous rights and their Indigenous land,” Canter said.

Canter added that students see and connect to the various pieces of art in different ways.

“I’m always sort of amazed at what students see in different pieces and in the work and the connections that they make and how that makes me see things differently,” Canter said, “And I hope that works for them too.”

Tufts students are not only viewers of Véxoa but are also involved behind the scenes.

Muri Mascarenhas, a junior double-majoring in education and child study and human development with a visual arts minor, is part of the TUAG Student Programming Committee.

“I lived all my life in Brazil before coming to college,” they said. “Coming here to Tufts was my first time abroad, and my goodness how I miss Brazil.” 

In September, the Tufts Portuguese department hosted an event with Véxoa in which Mascarenhas introduced the panelists to students. The panel included Avolese as well as two of the artists whose work is featured in Véxoa: Denilson Baniwa and Daiara Tukano.

Mascarenhas also created a booklet that interacts with the exhibition and a musical listening guide.

“I curated a playlist of 40 songs from Brazilian Indigenous artists, and it’s there at the exhibition to listen [to] and available online. It’s good jams for all tastes from heavy metal, Indigenous [artists] from Brazil, … to pop, reggaeton, to everything,” they said.

Mascarenhas emphasized how special the exhibition is to them and how much work their colleagues put into presenting Véxoa at TUAG.

However, they also expressed disappointment in its reception from the community so far.

“I can tell you it’s been a little frustrating. The outreach to the local Brazilian community has been very weak. This was such a special opportunity, and I don’t think the local population of Brazilians came to the exhibition, or the local schools with Brazilian kids,” Mascarenhas said.

They also added that it seems as though many local Brazilians have not heard of Véxoa or the fact that it is free and open to the public.

Much of the Boston Brazilian population has historically voted for right-wing Brazilian candidates, with political scientists having predicted that the population would vote for former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s last election.

These politics, Mascarenhas contends, tend to go hand in hand with apathy toward expanded Indigenous rights. Mascarenhas expressed that they wished more local Brazilians had come to the exhibition to challenge their perceptions and open their perspectives of Indigenous life.

Avolese spoke wearily of the misconception that if Indigenous peoples are not isolated, then they lose their identity.  

“[These cultures are] not trapped in the past. They’re dynamic and they’re being transformed, and that doesn’t make them less Indigenous. … Most Indigenous populations in Brazil, they’re living at what you could call sort of the border between two cultures. … The majority of Indigenous people are living in urban centers,” Avolese said.

Véxoa’s run at TUAG continues until Dec. 10, 2023, when a final event will mark the exhibition’s closing. The event will involve a tour led by Avolese and a talk in both English and Portuguese.

Published on 17 November 2023

Rockhampton region will get a chance to see the works of one of Australia’s most significant Indigenous artists, in an exclusive exhibition at Rockhampton Museum of Art, from mid November.

Richard Bell’s exhibition Bell’s Theorem will be the largest solo exhibition in the artist’s home state to date.

It will also be his first in Australia after his critically acclaimed participation in the 58th Venice Biennale (Bell gatecrashed the world’s most famous biennale with a scene-stealing and provocative installation, roaming the canals on a barge)  and major solo exhibitions at Tate Modern in London and Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Bell has also been the subject of a highly awarded documentary, You Can Go Now, available on SBS.

Bell’s Theorem covers around four decades of the artist’s career and shows how his artwork has been informed by a lifetime of activism for Aboriginal land rights. The artist often employs humour and catchy phrases in his paintings and videos to express the conflicts between ‘Western, colonial and Indigenous art production and its reception.’

In addition to his paintings, the exhibition will also include a travelling artwork Embassy, inspired by the Aboriginal Tent Embassy which was pitched on the grounds of Parliament House in Canberra in 1972 by four young activists. Bell’s Embassy, which is jointly owned by the Tate Modern in London and Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, will be the venue for public dialogue at various times during the exhibition.

Bell was born in Charleville and lived in several locations around Queensland in his formative years, including Rockhampton.

He won Rockhampton Art Gallery’s Gold Award in 2018 for his painting Untitled that mimicked the style of Roy Lichtenstein and Jackson Pollock to provoke ideas about ‘place’. Along with prizemoney, the Gold Award came with an invitation to undertake a solo exhibition at Rockhampton Museum of Art.

Rockhampton Regional Council Communities and Heritage spokesperson Cr Drew Wickerson said that Rockhampton Museum of Art is delivering on a promise to provide access to some of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists, right here in Rockhampton.

“This is a major exclusive for the Rockhampton Museum of Art, demonstrating that RMOA is now a leading regional art gallery for Queensland and Australia. This world-class artist’s works will be on show, for free, for all our residents and visitors to the region this summer,” he said.

Bell’s Theorem will be on display from 18 November 2023 to 18 February 2024 at Rockhampton Museum of Art, 220 Quay Street, Rockhampton. Admission is free.

Rockhampton Museum of Art is owned and operated by Rockhampton Regional Council.