VIRGINIA DE MEDEIROS

Sérgio e Simone (2007–2014), selected for the 31^st São Paulo Biennial (2014) and recipient of the ICCo residency award at the 18^th Festival de Arte Contemporânea Videobrasil, documents the life of Simone, a transvestite who lived at the Ladeira da Montanha, in Salvador, capital of Bahia. Like most the residents of the borough, Simone was an avid drug user. However, after the first week of filming, she suffers a crack overdose accompanied by a mystical delirium causing her to ‘find God’ and circumvent death. From this episode onwards Simone abandons her identity as a transvestite, retakes her baptism name of Sérgio and becomes an avid evangelical preacher in a delirious quest to save humanity.

Born in Feira de Santana/BA, Brazil, in 1973, Medeiros lives and works São Paulo/SP, Brazil. She has featured in biennials such as Jogja Biennale XIV, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2017), and the 27^th and 31^st editions of the Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo/SP, Brazil (2006 and 2014), as well the 32^nd Panorama da Arte Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), São Paulo/SP, Brazil (2011). Her recent and most important exhibitions include: Alma de Bronze, solo show at Ocupação 9 de Julho, São Paulo/SP, Brazil (2018); Studio Butterfly e outras fábulas, solo show at Galeria Fayga Ostrower, Complexo Cultural Funarte Brasília, Brasília/DF, Brazil (2018); ARTE DEMOCRACIA UTOPIA–Quem não luta tá morto, group show at Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil (2018); Forms of Resistance, group show at The Golden Thread Gallery, London, UK (2017); Histórias da sexualidade, group show at Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), São Paulo/SP, Brazil (2017); Nada levarei quando morrer, aqueles que me devem cobrarei no inferno, group show at Galpão VB, São Paulo/SP, Brazil (2017); and Orixás, group show at Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil (2016). Main awards include: Voto Popular and Jury award in the PIPA Prize, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil (2015); 5th Marcantonio Vilaça Award for Fine Arts, Brazil; Rede Nacional Funarte Artes Visuais 2009, Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte), Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil (2009); among others. Her artworks are in important institutional collections such as: Associação Cultural Videobrasil, São Paulo/SP, Brazil; Centro Cultural São Paulo (CCSP), São Paulo/SP, Brazil; Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho/MG, Brazil; IP Capital Partners Institute, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil; Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil; among others.

Courtesy Galeria Nara Roesler