©evarocha #EvaRocha #artist #brazilian #contemporaryartists #women_artists #latinx__artist #biboc_artist #artistas_do_Brasil
I was born in a 3 streets, 9 blocks town in Brazil. Itacolomy as it was called was not in the map. It is now. It is now called Novo Itacolomi (New itacolomi). The word Itacolomy, by the way, means Beautiful Rock in the native language of Brazil. There were no galleries or museums in Itacolomy. But yes, there was Art. An art that was genuine to place and collective expression. And what is that which is called art? Who were those that decided what art is? What is implicit in the art dialogue - if there is one. Who are the ones who decide who participate in the arts, in the arts’ dialogue? Art creation is not a privilege. Art is an atemporal own alphabet of any so-called-culture. Art exists prior to definitions of culture or art.
Father and Mother [indigenous and black] + [roma and indigenous] - Brasileira
Me, first on the left, playing with a doll that belonged to my cousin from the city who came to visit.
My maternal grandmother had 15 children. My paternal grandmother had 17 children. I have a lot of cousins…
Unfamiliar portrait with mother and father [and neckbracet at age 16]
…washing my grandmother’s hair in the Rio São Francisco
When I was looking at my indigenous grandmother in the river, I thought:
Latina. I used to have a nonprofit to promote Latin Art Art and take art programs to marginalized Latino communities [most Latinxs in the US are Indigenous descendants]. I fought for inclusion and to open for fair conditions to participate. I advocated for what I believed that, art, as a place of participation and dialogue, should be aaccessible to all groups. Talent is not privilege, but conditions to participate in the arts is.
Project Mixtecas: I met with the indigenous Mixtec women immigrants to the United States. We talk about their culture, their symbology. I presented some works in Art History [in books} and Contemporary Art to create knowledge of the quality of their own art. We did an exhibition of their work as Art in an Installation of Textiles Art. Many groups don’t get to participate in the arts and became just an images of inclusion but without really participating in the arts.
I used to participate with a group of women artists and social workers on a staged ‘arm fighting’ - we raised money for social causes.
While working with communities I was also invited to participate in the arts. A career in the arts initiate organically. I received a prize as emerging artist in 2016.
#EvaRocha #eva_rocha_artist #brazilian #contemporary #womenartist #latinxartist #bibocartist #emergingartist #artistas_do_Brasil
In 2021 I was awarded my very first solo: It was due to have won First Prize (with this work) at the Taubman Museum’s trienal. The solo exhibition took place at the Taubman Museum. I dedicated it to the [art] history of Indigenous Peoples and descendants in diaspora.
Bio:
Eva Rocha is a multimedia artist. Born in a small town with three streets, without access to art materials, she drew with lints of cloth and hair. It was only at the age of nineteen that she saw art in the context of museums and galleries. She began her artistic work during the years she lived in the Andes of Peru. Influenced by pre-Columbian art, she developed methods related to the aesthetics of artifacts. In the United States, she exhibits her work in several museums and had her first solo exhibition as an award-winning exhibition at the Taubman Museum in 2023. Much of her work references indigenous artifacts and the resulting interdisciplinary dialogues present in the decontextualized views of cultural objects.
Biografia:
Eva Rocha é uma artista multimídia. Nascida em um povoado de três ruas e sem acesso a materiais de arte, desenhava com fiapos de pano e com cabelo. Somente aos dezenove anos tem contato com a arte no contexto de museus e galerias. Dá início ao trabalho artístico, nos anos em que viveu nos Andes peruanos. Impactada pela arte pré-colombiana, desenvolve métodos relacionados à estética de artefatos. Nos Estados Unidos, expõe seu trabalho em vários museus e realiza sua primeira individual como prêmio, no Taubman Museum, em 2023. Grande parte de sua obra faz referência a artefatos indígenas e os consequentes diálogos interdisciplinares presentes no olhar descontextualizado de objetos culturais.