Maria Auxiliadora da Silva developed a unique language far removed from the academic and modernist norms of her day, constructing complex representations of her everyday world and Afro-Brazilian heritage through a self-devised technique involving oil, plastic paste and sometimes even locks of her own hair. In Umbanda, we see an altar with three figures on it: a Christian Saint Sebastian, or the hunter Oshosi, the Umbanda patron of the Caboclo and the forest; a Preto-Velho, a wise spirit of enslaved Africans; and Lazarus or Obaluaê, the Orisha of health and healing. On the floor, beneath the altar stands another figure, the Caboclo. Caboclo is the Amerindian spirit, the luminous and charitable spirit. Five people conduct a ritual: an Ialorixá, dressed in white and smoking a cigar, two men and a child. In the background, two musicians accompany the ritual on African bata drums. On the floor, three candles convey their specific symbolisms: the white candle, representing Oshala, the creator of the world and of human beings, stands for purity; the red candle, pertaining to Ogum, the god of war, symbolizes strength and courage; and the brown, celebrating Shango, the Orisha of fire and lightning, representing justice. The pentagram star chalked onto the floor symbolizes the five elements (fire, earth, water, air, and spirit) and thus harmony, balance and protection. MASP has held two solo shows of the artist’s work (1981 and 2018) and has four of her paintings.
— Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director, MASP, 2018
