“Poster for The Fish”

Photography, video and installation play a central role in the production of the artist from Alagoas, Jonathas de Andrade. His research often involves dialogue with communities that participate in the creation of his works, expanding the reach of voices that are constantly marginalized. Based on his commitment to weaving together fiction and documentary, and in a constant exercise of rewriting history, Jonathas seeks through this reinvention to construct allegories and poetic narratives, which in turn function as powerful tools for questioning the constructions of gender, class and race rooted in the Brazilian sociocultural structure.

“I think that artistic existence, which is not a privilege of professional artists nor guaranteed to all of them all the time, has to do with a state of attention and emergency (...), as well as an aesthetic disposition for life. In this sense, that which treats art as an isolated field ends up being of little interest. (...). I feel strength in art because of its capacity to generate energy in absolute contradiction and disorder within a system; because of the ability to take checkmates as an impulse for movement and transformation and not as ambushes with no return.”

Solo exhibitions include: O rebote do bote , at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2022), in São Paulo, Brazil; Staging Resistance , at Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (Foam), in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2022); Jonathas de Andrade: One to One , at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) (2019), in Chicago, United States; Visions of the Northeast , at Museo Jumex (2017), in Mexico City, Mexico; O peixe , at the New Museum (2017), in New York, United States; Call for a national furniture , at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) (2016), in São Paulo, Brazil; and Museu do Homem do Nordeste , at the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) (2014), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has participated in several biennials, such as: 59th Venice Biennale, Italy (2022); 13th and 10th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2017 and 2011); 32nd and 29th São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (2016 and 2010); 12th and 16th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2011 and 2019); The Ungovernables - New Museum Triennial, New York - USA (2012); 12th Lyon Biennial, France (2013); 32nd Panorama of Brazilian Art, São Paulo, Brazil (2011). Among the group exhibitions, the following stand out: Casa carioca , at the Rio Art Museum (MAR) (2020), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today , at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (2014); To the Northeast , at Sesc 24 de Maio (2019), in São Paulo, Brazil; The First Ten Years, at the Tomie Ohtake Institute (ITO) (2011), in São Paulo, Brazil. His works can be found in several institutional collections, including: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Museo del Barrio, New York, United States; Museu Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain; Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, United States; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States; and Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom; among others.