"NOBODY CAN DEFEAT ME": THE BRAZILIAN PAVILION IN VENICE BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY, HISTORY, AND NATURE

The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo has announced the curatorial project for the Brazilian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Entitled Comigo ninguém pode, the exhibition is curated by Diane Lima and brings together, in an unprecedented dialogue, artists Rosana Paulino (São Paulo, 1967) and Adriana Varejão (Rio de Janeiro, 1964), who will occupy the entire Brazilian Pavilion starting in May 2026. The exhibition takes an installation-based approach that challenges the modern architecture of the building, with an exhibition design developed by Daniela Thomas in dialogue with the artists and the curatorial team.

Taking as its starting point and state of mind the syncretic and ambiguous characteristics of the plant popularly known as comigo-ninguém-pode —a species that, due to its toxicity, has become a symbol of protection and resilience— the project invites the public to a sensitive experience that proposes new ways of perceiving the relationships between nature, history, and spirituality.

Breaking with the linearity of time, the exhibition brings together historical works from more than three decades of production by both artists, in which they address colonial wounds and traumas, while highlighting how this rewriting of history also manifests itself through processes of metamorphosis and dialogue with the performance of materialities in space.

Comigo ninguém pode takes its name from the Portuguese term for the plant known in English as dumb cane or leopard lily (Dieffenbachia), a species widely used in front of houses or doors in Brazil as a symbol of spiritual protection and ancestral resilience. The title also refers to a drawing from Paulino's Senhora das plantas [Lady of the Plants] series. Varejão, in turn, uses painting to simulate different materialities —such as concrete, flesh, Baroque woodcarving, and ceramics— culminating in the botanical element.

"The project invites us to connect to a frequency that opens up the possibility of seeing the transcendent in the visible. By evoking this energy, Comigo ninguém pode reflects on the manifestations of faith and spirituality in Brazilian culture, highlighting its close relationship with nature, with more-than-human dimensions and, above all, in the construction of a complex collective imagination," says Diane Lima.

"In works such as Aracnes and Ninfa tecendo o casulo [Nymph Weaving a Cocoon], I return to the image of the Black woman as a weaver of life and memory, one who draws from her own body the material to sustain continuity. These are works that affirm the strength of reconstruction, of suture, and of permanence in the face of historical violence," says Paulino.

"I am working intensely on many new works for the Pavilion, conceived in direct dialogue with the building's architecture. The paintings are distributed in unpredictable ways throughout the space, taking on an installation-like character and making the building an active part of the work," says Varejão.

The curatorial approach was designed to emphasize the dialogues that run through the prolific careers of both artists. The works were selected based on overlaps, tensions, and symbolic, chromatic, material, and iconographic similarities that constitute this historical and cultural national repertoire. "I believe that Brazil will see itself as a reflection and a shadow in the mirror, a self-portrait painted with conversations about flesh, nature, and faith," adds Diane Lima.