Note from BW of Brazil: Black women. Bahian artist. Art. Paintings. A wonderful combination! As has been repeatedly proven on this blog, Brazil does a huge disservice to itself and its black population by continuously rendering this population invisible in its media and overall representation…outside of Carnaval. And Afro-Brazilian women have long denounced the fact that the Carnaval season is usually the only time of year that the black woman is prominently featured in the media. And this representation, that is transmitted all over the world, often portrays these women in a manner in which Brazilian history, media and arts have always presented this parcel of the population: sensualized and/or sexualized. Well, as many of us know, if we want to change this, we must do it ourselves and this is exactly what a talented artist decided to do. The results are stunning! Yesterday we brought you the contestants of a contest in Bahia aimed at representing black beauty, today we bring another representation of this beauty by an artist from Bahia. See for yourself!
Odara: meet the artist that makes a homage to black women all over Brazil
Muha is the artistic name of the artist that is enchanting us with his strokes full of poetry
By Diane Lima
It was getting to know the talents of the Feira Preta with our friend and collaborator Juliana Luna, a name that is inspiring and doing the heads of black girls from around the world and is also in receiving us here in Rio de Janeiro for a mission that sums up everything we talk about: being a woman, black and creative in Brazil (soon, soon many details!) that we come across the amazing work of Muha Bazila, a 24-year old Bahian that enchanted us. Having as a reference and muse his own mother, activist and researcher Maria Luiza Junior, Muha that has been drawing since childhood created the series of Odara paintings that has as its objective, to appreciate and celebrate the beauty of us black women in strokes that are pure poetry.
Contemporary mixing of references of beauty, fashion and attitude connecting us with our ancestry, Odara leave us a message about the importance of occupying spaces and creating dialogues that reinforce the position about how we want and we can be represented.
May we be ever more examples of self-esteem and empowerment of each other.
Check out the interview:
“I find it important to appreciate the black woman aesthetically, without necessarily sexualizing. Appreciate …”
NOBR: Muha, tell us a little! Where are you from, how old are you and how did you get into painting/ art?
I was born in Salvador on February 17, 1990 and I am 24 years old. I have been drawing since I was little and probably drawing was the first activity that enchanted me. As a child, at age 7, already in Brasília, I entered a drawing and painting class for the first time, I did it for one year, after another year of oil painting when I returned to Salvador, at 10 years old. Afterward I spent a long time drawing and painting sporadically. It was the second year of college of Architecture and Urbanism at UnB (University of Brasília), that I came back to draw often inspired by a professor who, besides being an architect was also an artist, Dulce Schunk.
3) Future projects, plans and any news you can tell us?
I intend to continue with the Odara series but maybe it’s time for the guys also….. Another objective is to portray Brazil, in the way I see it. Axé!
In October the 7th edition of the Art Freedom collective exhibition in the city of Paris took place. The exhibition brought together artists of various nationalities. It was the first time a Brazilian artist was to participate.
“As an artist I intend to present two series of portraits. The first, made with markers, having as a theme the Mulher Negra (Black woman), who with her hair, clothes and colors seeks to affirm African beauty. The second, in acrylic paint on canvas, is a triple portraying consecrated black Brazilian artists.”
Wow! Amazing artwork!!