Painting in the light of environmental and historiographical conflicts

Founded in 1997, Instituto Inclusartiz is a cultural, not-for-profit NGO. Its mission is to promote contemporary art through the training of artists, curators and researchers at different stages of their careers, with the aim of advancing social integration, cultural diversity, environmental sustainability and collaboration between the institutions, organisations and agents of the sector. Since 2021, the institute has been based in Gamboa, in Rio de Janeiro, a neighbourhood that, during colonial times, was a major slave trading centre, but is today a fundamental piece in the formulation of the cultural identity and historic reparation not just of Brazil, but of all America.

Marcela Cantuária (Rio de Janeiro, 1991) is one of the most outstanding young painters of her generation in Brazil. Known for her investigative work that intertwines historical images from the world of politics with contemporary visual culture, she builds narratives of confrontation with the social structures of the global South. Her work is notable for her profound interest in the climate crisis and violence targeting Latin American environmental activists, bringing the continuity of historical processes onto the agenda for debate. Having created several murals in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 2021, Cantuária was selected by Instituto Inclusartiz to create public works, and also for environmental education initiatives in the north-east of Brazil, in Cajueiro da Praia, Piauí, a conservation area that contains one of the largest refuges for manatees (Trichechus manatus) in Latin America. In this way, through art and education, she seeks to raise awareness of the importance of protecting this endangered species.

Instituto Inclusartiz is pleased to present the first work created in an artistic residence in Europe by the artist, through which painting intersects with Spanish history and ancestral Latin American wisdom. The composition is marked by a return to protagonism, as a form of opposition to the expropriation of memory and Latin American resources, thus breaking away from the imaginary colonialism.

Curatorial oversight by Aldones Nino
Instituto Inclusartiz training and education advisor