In reference to the month in which Black, Latin American and Caribbean Women's Day is celebrated, the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) brought to the Nise da Silveira Exhibition Space, locatedO at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), one of its units in Macaíba, the exhibition Black Essence, put together by photographers Ana Cláudia Albuquerque, Kaline Lucena and Rodrigo Campos. The exhibition features 20 portraits of black women aged 62 to 107, from 17 quilombola communities in Rio Grande do Norte.

Visits must be scheduled using the form (Visits to IIN-ELS/ISD (google.com)), or in the “Communication and events” > “Open doors” tab on the website: www.isd.org.br. Visitors will have the opportunity to see the photographs and participate in a guided tour of the IIN-ELS headquarters, where the Master's Degree in Neuroengineering is located.the ISD, the only one in this area of knowledge in Brazil. The exhibition will be open to the general public on Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.

Among the personalities photographed are the actress from Mossoró, Tony Silva, and Maria Nazaré Marques de Moura, one of the founders of the quilombola community Moita Verde, in Parnamirim., died at the age of 107. Maria Nazaré witnessed major historical events in Rio Grande do Norte, such as the installation of the North American base in the city of Parnamirim during the Second World War.

“I see a beauty in this person that goes beyond conventional standards. There is a lot of wisdom, a lot of strength, and that is what we wanted to show through the photos,” says photographer Ana Cláudia Albuquerque. According to her, to take the portraits, the photographers usually spend the entire day with the women, listening to their life stories. “These are very rich stories, but sometimes they are also very painful, because these women have experienced the effects of racism directly. There were women who had to flee their homes because they were black, many very painful stories, but they really need to be told, because racism is still a reality in our society,” she adds.

The ISD’s General Director, Reginaldo Freitas Júnior, states that the exhibition is an important step in the institution’s integration with the community through cultural and artistic activities, in addition to those already taking place related to science, education and health. “The ISD sees the community that welcomes us as the centrality of our work, and responsibility towards this community is an imperative of the social mandate that the Institute assumes. Our idea is to promote a program of exhibitions and cultural activities on an increasing basis, with the hope that our spaces will be recognized as spaces that belong to the communities of Macaíba and Rio Grande do Norte, and that, in this way, we will be increasingly closer to the people who motivate our work”, states the General Director.

“These are looks, smiles and faces that beautifully convey the strength of black women from Rio Grande do Norte. The lines that mark these faces tell the life stories of these women and personify the construction of our history as a people and society. This is something very precious to us. We are very happy and honored to host the Essência Negra Exhibition, with all the generosity and sensitivity expressed in the work of Ana Albuquerque, Kaline Lucena and Rodrigo Campos, which deserves to be seen and shared by many people,” she adds.

Black, Latin American and Caribbean Women's Day

Celebrated on July 25, Black, Latin American and Caribbean Women's Day was created in 1992 at a meeting of black women in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. They took ownership of the date and created a network to get the United Nations (UN) to play a role in the fight against gender and racial oppression. In addition to the date celebrated internationally, in Brazil, July 25 is also the National Day of Tereza de Benguela and Black Women, in honor of the leader of the Quilombo Quariterê, in Mato Grosso do Sul, who resisted slavery for two decades, until 1770.

Service

What? Photographic exhibition “Black Essence”

Where? Nise da Silveira exhibition room, at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), in Macaíba (RN)

When? From July 14 to July 25, 2022, on Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.

To schedule The visit, access:

https://docs.google.com/forms/of/1FAIpQLScTblcJB9PHdg3dEplKcupVRKiG26WIhJ3gzDbx4EPHfJNqEA/viewform