MASP presents Video Room: Manauara Clandestina with five videos, two of which were recently shown at the 60th Venice Biennale. The audiovisual installation by the artist Manauara Clandestina (Manaus, AM, 1992), on view from December 13, explores themes such as transvestite identity, intimate relationships, fashion and migratory flows.
The artist, who expresses her Amazonian origin and clandestine experience in her own name, praises the creativity of the transvestite community in the Global South in her work, breaking with the normativity that often limits the group to the representation of their vulnerability. “Transvestites have everything to do with fashion and cinema. I want to make more films and see more self-respecting transvestites in their roles; not only as actresses, but also as directors and photographers who create our imaginary of Brazil and our daily lives,” says Manauara.
The various works presented in the video room explore the concept of upcycling. Although it originated in fashion as a response to fast fashion, upcycling – the process of reusing objects, clothing, and other materials to create something new – is present in Manauara’s work, both in her clothing and in the editing of her videos, which mix captured images with others from different locations. Iconic snippets, such as the recording of man’s first step on the moon, are juxtaposed with scenes from the artist’s daily life, creating a visual dialogue that reinvents the imaginary of transvestites in the social sphere.
Curated by Leandro Muniz, Assistant Curator, MASP, the exhibition brings together works that deal with issues such as the artist’s own biography, transvestility, the climate crisis, the condition of manual laborers, religions, economic inequalities, violence, intimacy and affection, proposing connections between these various themes in a narrative and fragmented way.
The video Corredor 1 (2020), featuring the artist’s brother, reflects on living space in the context of migration. The work reveals a “house capsule” – a restricted living environment, more like a dormitory than a house – designed for people with intense work schedules who have little time to enjoy their homes.
Reposição 2 and Reposição 3 (2020) bring to light the reality of uniformed workers in urban space, with videos shot with cell phones that record everyday urban life in the city of São Paulo.
Building (2021-2024) marks Manauara’s first artistic residency outside of Brazil, at the Delfina Foundation in London. In the film, the artist reconciles with her father by depicting his work as a missionary pastor and his pilgrimages. The video mixes personal testimonies with images of a collapsing building, suggesting both the idea of “edifice” implied by the English title and that of an ongoing formation, since it is also the verb “to build” in the gerund.
In Migranta (2021), Manauara wrote the words “soy bienvenida” on fluorescent work uniforms and recorded images of friends parading around Barcelona in the clothes. The work highlights the presence of dissident bodies and immigrants who suffer violence in public spaces and in foreign countries.
Manauara Clandestina concludes the Video Room’s annual program as part of the LGBTQIA+ Histories cycle at MASP. Throughout the year, works by Masi Mamani/Bartolina Xixa, Tourmaline, Ventura Profana, Kang Seung Lee and Manauara Clandestina have been presented.
ABOUT MANAUARA CLANDESTINA
Manauara Clandestina (Manaus, Amazonas, 1992) is a visual artist and film student. The daughter of pastors, she grew up in Missões in the interior of the state of Amazonas. Her first contact with art was through theater and music in church, while her production emerges as an interpretation of urban nightlife. Her performances address new perspectives on transvestite existence, questioning the conditions that permeate it through processes of boundary transitions and sensitive dives that build intimate records of a northern artist. Her practice builds imaginary constructions within fashion, evoking dialogues that illuminate the subjectivities of Brazilian dissident corporealities.
In 2020, her research was developed as part of the Delfina Foundation Residency Program (London, UK) and in 2021 at Piramidón - Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (Barcelona, Spain), both with the support of Instituto Inclusartiz (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In 2021, she presented two solo exhibitions, Pitiú de Cobra (Delirium, São Paulo) and Saltação (Casa70, Lisbon). She has participated in several group exhibitions in important institutions, such as IAB SP - Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (São Paulo) and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. In 2022, she participated in the 75th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), and in 2023, in the 1st Biennial of the Amazons (Belém, Brazil) and in the exhibition El tiempo es una ilusión, at Collegium (Arévalo, Spain).
VIDEO ROOM: MANAUARA CLANDESTINA
Curated by Leandro Muniz, Assistant Curator, MASP
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Sala de Vídeo [Video Room]: Manauara Clandestina
Building (2021-2024)
Vídeo [Video], 6’05’’
Direção [Directed by]: Manauara Clandestina
Direção de arte / edição [Art Director / editing]: Renan Soares
Participações especiais [Guest appearances]: Luiz Felipe Lucas, Jean Petra, Hena Lee,
Lino Cecio, Camila Ribeiro, Micaela Cyrino, Julia Teixeira, Aldones Nino, Maria Creuza
Ribeiro Torres, Maria Neurizete Torres e [and] Murilo Tadashi
Migranta (2024)
Vídeo [Video], 17’35”
Direção [Directed by]: Manauara Clandestina e [and] Luiz Felipe Lucas
Design de moda [Fashion Designer]: Rodrigo Falero
Diração de arte [Art Director]: Lucas Rosa
Elenco [Featured Artist]: Nega Lucas
Produção [Production]: Tess Aranyos
Maquiagem [Make-up]: Adrian Canopio, Jupiter Dragon e [and] Santdemonia
Câmera [Camera]: Guto Moura, Xavi Garcia, Fernanda Medeiros, Patri Vizcaino e [and]
Liquid Gold
Edição [Editing]: Nacho Montenegro
Cor [Color]: Wiktor Bak
Fotos [Stills]: Jordi Tix e [and] Manu Mitru
Música [Music]: Zenial – Janek Data Overload, Jean Claude (JC) Jones, Jared C. Balogh,
Santiago Latorre e [and] Alouatta (hembra)
Corredor 1 [Hallway 1] (2020), em colaboração com [in partnership with] Marcos Henrique
Torres e [and] João Rubio
Vídeo [Video], 3’47’’
Reposição 2 [Replacement 2] (2020), em colaboração com [in partnership with] João Rubio
Vídeo [Video], 1’10’’
Reposição 3 [Replacement 3] (2020), em colaboração com [in partnership with] João Rubio
Vídeo [Video], 1’04’’
