LIA D CASTRO’S FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION AT MASP

The title of the exhibition stems from the historical absence of minority groups in positions of power and decision-making—nowhere—while their presence and workforce make up the foundations that sustain society—everywhere. Curated by Isabella Rjeille, curator, MASP, and Glaucea Helena de Britto, assistant curator, MASP, the show features the artist’s entire body of work.

Lia D Castro uses prostitution as a research tool and develops her production from encounters with her clients—mostly white, heterosexual, cisgender men, of middle and upper class—to subvert relationships of power or violence that may arise between them, merging life history and social history. Themes such as masculinity and whiteness, as well as affection, care and responsibility, are addressed on these occasions and result in collaborative paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and installations.

In such moments, she talks to these men and invites them to reflect: when did you realize you were White? And when did you discover yourself to be a cisgender, heterosexual? “Questions to which the artist does not seek a definitive answer, but rather to provoke a position within the racial, gender and sexuality debate,” says curator Isabella Rjeille.

Lia D Castro’s conversations with these men are permeated by references to important Black intellectuals such as Frantz Fanon, Toni Morrison, Conceição Evaristo and Bell Hooks. Phrases taken from the books of these authors, read by the artist in the company of her collaborators, are inserted onto the canvases and blend in with the gestures, scenes, colors and characters.  Lia D Castro’s work becomes a place of encounter, clash and friction, in which actions, images and imaginaries are debated, revised and transformed. The artist often inserts references to other works she has done, including them in a different context and, consequently, assigning new meanings and readings to these images.

“Based on Frantz Fanon’s notion that racism is a repetition, I propose countering it with the repetition of images. Since images build culture and memory, by placing one work inside another, I am trying to create new aesthetic references,” says the artist.

Lia D Castro: Everywhere and Nowhere is part of MASP’s annual program dedicated to Queer Histories. This year’s program also includes exhibitions by Gran Fury, Francis Bacon, Mário de Andrade, MASP Renner, Catherine Opie, Leonilson, Serigrafistas Queer and the large group show Queer Histories.

An artist and intellectual, Lia D Castro was born in 1978 in Martinópolis, São Paulo, Brazil, and currently lives and works in the capital. The artist has had solo exhibitions at Instituto Çarê (2022), in São Paulo, and at the Martins&Montero Gallery (2023), in São Paulo and Belgium. Her group exhibitions include the 10th Mostra 3M de arte – Lugar Comum: travessias e coletividades na cidade, at Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo (2020); A verdade está no corpo, at Paço das Artes, São Paulo (2023); Middle Gate III, at De Werft, in Belgium (2023); Hors de l'énorme ennui, at Palais de Tokyo, in France (2023); and Dos Brasis: arte e pensamento negro, at Sesc Belenzinho, in São Paulo (2023). Her work is part of the collection of the Martins&Montero Gallery (São Paulo and Belgium) and S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (Belgium).