ANTONIO TARSIS

The artist explores the centrality of labor in the human condition—especially labor born from violence—by contrasting the rigorous processes of industrial science with traditional, modest manual craftsmanship. Industrial processes like standardizing matchbox sizes and mining for electronic devices are juxtaposed with manual actions: hand-cutting, folding, pasting, dyeing papers, and exposing labels to sunlight for natural fading. This approach recalls the scarcity of tools and materials in his early years—living in a favela at 12 after his mother’s death, he dropped out of school, self-educated through public library books in Salvador, and began working with materials found on the streets. The emphasis on manual production in Tarsis’ work also connects to the complex artistic traditions rooted in African heritage and the labor systems devastated since colonial enslavement: Salvador, the first capital of Brazil for two centuries during the colonial period, is home to one of the world’s largest Afrodiasporic communities.