In this Research and Academic Program lecture, Igor Simões (State University of Rio Grande do Sul / Clark Fellow) explores the absence of Black Brazilian artists in the context of the international debate on art and the history of Afro-Diasporic art, speculating the US scenario, which is projected as if it occupied the protagonism of this production in the Americas. It should be noted that Brazil was the largest destination for the African diaspora and has the largest contingent of Black subjects outside the African continent.  How then to understand the absence that has been proven from the analysis of publications, exhibitions, and institutional collections that are dedicated to the theme? It is also intended to contribute to the understanding of the problem and possible strategies that help to change this situation.

Igor Simões is professor of history, theory, and art criticism, as well as methodology and practice in art teaching, at Universidate Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He holds a PhD from the same institution. His work focuses on the intersections of histories of art and racialization in Brazilian art. Recent and current curatorial projects include Presença Negra no Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Empowerment (Volfsburg, Germany); Social Fabric (Houston and Dallas, Texas); and Dos Brasis: Arte e Pensamento negro. In 2019 he served as educational curator of the Bienal 12—Bienal do Mercosul, and he is the invited curator of the Instituto Inhotim in Minas Gerais for the 2023 season. Simões is a member of the curatorial board of Museu de Arte Contemporânea USP and an advisory board member for AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions), including advising the initiative “Rewriting Art History in the Americas: BIPOC Women Artists in the 19th and 20th Centuries,” which will culminate in the exhibition Art and Feminisms at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Germany.

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event. The lecture will be recorded and available to view on the Clark’s website and YouTube channel following the event.

Image: Rebeca Carapiá, For Your Fear of Getting Hurt (detail), 2023, iron. Photograph by Márcio Lima