Artist and intellectual, Lia D Castro (Martinópolis, São Paulo, 1978) investigates how relations of race, class, and gender take form in moments of intimacy and vulnerability. The artist addresses the practice of prostitution as a research tool and develops her work from encounters with her clients—cisgender men, mainly white, heterosexual, from up and middle classes—to subvert relations of power or violence that may arise between them, connecting personal life and social history. Topics like masculinity and whiteness, but also affection, care, and responsibility, are discussed in these situations, resulting in paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and installations created by the artist through a collaborative process.
Lia D Castro’s work is organized in series, the biggest of them being Axs nossxs filhxs [To Our Children], shown in this exhibition. Made in her living room and studio, a place for encounters and commercial, intellectual, and affective exchanges, the series’ creative process is characterized by collective decisions, from the color palette to the signing of the works. Repetition is one of its central features: through this resource, one can recognize gestures, characters, and situations, as well as other works by the artist depicted on the canvases, which prompts meanings to build up. The use of “x” in the original Portuguese title of the series refers to the diversity of family configurations and affective bonds beyond blood relations or the nuclear, heteronormative family arrangement, in addition to working as a tool that embraces different genders.
This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in a museum, and it includes 36 works produced between 2013 e 2024, as well as documents from her working process. The title of the show stems from the general recognition of the historical absence of minoritized groups in leadership and decision-making positions—nowhere—while their presence and work force represent the foundation of society—everywhere. This social stratification, reflected on the way Art History has assigned roles for depicting or being depicted, is questioned by Lia D Castro in her work by redefining this logic through affection, dialog, and imagination, used as tools for social change.
Lia D Castro: Everywhere and Nowhere is curated by Glaucea Helena de Britto, Assistant Curator, and Isabella Rjeille, Curator, MASP.
The show is part of MASP’s annual program, dedicated to Queer Histories and which includes exhibitions of Catherine Opie, Gran Fury, Leonilson, Mário de Andrade, MASP Renner, Serigrafistas Queer, and the group show Queer Histories, as well as works by Kang Seung Lee, Masi Mamani/Bartolina Xixa, Manauara Clandestina, Tourmaline, and Ventura Profana presented in the Video Room.
Cisgender: person who identifies with the sex assigned at birth, which is based on biological features.
Whiteness: set of social, material, and symbolic benefits and advantages of white people acquired by diminishing non-white people.
Lia de Castro: Everywhere and Nowhere
Curated by Isabella Rjeille, curator, MASP and Glaucea Britto, assistant curator, MASP
