GABRIELLA MARINHO

Gabriella Marinho often takes clay and soil as her starting point, both materially and philosophically. However, this is the first time the artist has developed a project centered on porcelain, a material rich in symbolism that, in this exhibition, directly engages with the iconography of Oxalá, an important orixá [deity] in Afro-Brazilian cosmology, one of the oldest in the Candomblé pantheon, and a central figure in her personal history.

The exhibition offers another perspective on what we understand as a path traveled, reframing concepts of spirituality as something metaphorical in our lives, and how these ideas are treated in Afro-Brazilian ritual practices. The title, Rastro luminoso [Luminous Trail], refers to the path left by animals such as the snail, which secretes mucus as it moves, especially on smooth surfaces—the snail being one of the representations of Oxalá.

‘I think of the exhibition as a route traced in suspension, stemming from the subjectivity of ritual symbols linked to porcelain and beach sand. My work begins with clay as a starting point, and I approach this within the contexts in which I exist and understand myself as a person. At this moment, I address things like corporeality, belonging and space, united by spirituality’, explains the artist.

In addition to porcelain, the exhibition highlights other elements such as metal, straw, sand, and indigo blue, evoking a symbolic network that spans different orixás and their interactions with Oxalá. The materials and forms intertwine in a sensitive territory between body, ritual and memory, proposing an expanded field of spirituality and ancestry within the exhibition space. The sand used in the production of the works was collected from points along the coast of Rio de Janeiro, specifically Saquarema, Boa Viagem and Camboinhas.

The exhibition aligns with the branch of Galatea’s curatorial program dedicated to promoting new voices in Brazilian contemporary art.

About the artist

Gabriella Marinho (1993, São Gonçalo, RJ) lives and works in São Gonçalo, in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. The artist, who holds a degree in journalism with a specialization in African Literatures from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, uses clay and earth as material and philosophical starting points for her practice. Experimenting with textures and techniques rooted in Afro-Brazilian and Afro-diasporic identity, Marinho explores organic and abstract forms both in her sculptural works and in paintings made with soil. She thus combines a subjective and embodied relationship with nature, which she researches and gathers from the territories she traverses to compose her work. In addition to opening new perspectives on the language of ceramics, Marinho’s work is permeated by an active engagement with art education, through which she experiments with collective practices and creates bridges between artistic making, the knowledge of the land and people’s lives.

In the past two years, Marinho has participated in the residency and exhibition The Whisper Beneath at Taipei Artist Village, Taiwan, invited by 01.01 ArtPlatform, and in a residency and open studio in Luanda, Angola, invited by MOVART gallery. She was selected as one of the ten emerging Black women artists in Brazil by MOOC100 and nominated for the Pipa Prize in 2023. Her recent exhibitions include: Ofício: Barro: Gabriella Marinho: Argila-Griô (Solo, Sesc Pompeia, São Paulo, 2024); Do barro ao corpo – a experiência feminina na cerâmica From Clay to the Body – The Female Experience in Ceramics; Ressignificar no Tempo Re-signifying in Time; Um defeito de cor A Color Defect; The Whisper Beneath (Collective, Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taiwan, 2022); Crônicas Cariocas Carioca Chronicles.