MASP

In the paintings and sculptures of artist No Martins, chess serves as a metaphor for exploring power struggles and racial conflicts. The different chess pieces symbolize the various roles played within social hierarchies and are divided into “black” and “white”. In the painting Principal peça do jogo [Main Game Piece], Martins challenges the historically assigned roles of Black women in the Brazilian context by breaking away from stereotypes and subaltern representations. The bluish-gray background appears as a sort of twilight, and in the upper-right corner, the word “Matriarch” — a woman who is the leader or the cornerstone of a group or family — is written in hollow letters. We also see a halo or golden light behind the character’s head. She wears an oversized yellow shirt that forms a field of solid color, contrasting with the atmospheric background. Her loose hair cascades down her back, and she wears a sort of hat or hairstyle reminiscent of the queen in chess. Light softly illuminates her face, while the contre-plongée angle — when the camera is below eye level, recording the scene from bottom to top — captures her pride and self-determination. She gazes towards the right, at a point beyond the canvas. There is an aura of hope and resolve surrounding her, hinting at something that we are not able to see.

— Leandro Muniz, assistent curator, MASP, 2023

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