Tromba d’Água (Waterspout)
According to the Presocratic philosopher Empedocles (c. 492 – 432 B.C.), the essence of life resulted from the interaction among the four elements — water, earth, fire, air — and two forces, love and strife. When love prevails, the elements are integrated in balance. If strife settles in, chaos emerges. The very water that quenches thirst, refreshes the body, blesses, washes, irrigates food and enchants the eyes is also moody sometimes. Waterspouts, storms, floods, tsunamis, seaquakes — and others labeled by the modern science as “extreme events” — have been increasingly more often in Brazil and in the world.
May Yemoja, Iara, Neptune, Our Lady of Navigators, Oshun, Sirens, Poseidon, Mother of the Waters, by shaking the waters, want nothing else than calling us out for the need to love each other, the world, ourselves and the waters. For our own sake, we need to listen to this calling. After all, our body is 70% of water, as well as the planet is 70% of oceans.
If there is a call, this is because the water communicates. Its language is continuous, fluid, permeable, deep, changeable, liquid. That is precisely why, to perceive this language, a lot of attention is required. The exhibition Waterspout translates the watery language into our inattentive perception. What does it say to you?
Female Latin Artists Institute
Since 2019, Female Latin Artists Institute has aimed to strengthen the amplifying of knowledge about the production by female artists in contemporary art. Through a digital platform, it brings together hundreds of names and biographies from all regions of Latin America, promoting research exchanges and expanding the mapping of art connections between countries. The Institute's social media amplify their artworks and initiatives that bring visibility to the art production by women. This allows the Institute to have a greater presence in other locations, directly impacting twelve countries, be it through face-to-face or virtual initiatives.
Furthermore, the Institute develops and disseminates diverse content that consolidates the contemporary art dialogue, offers free educational and training activities, organizes exhibition and institutional projects, provides consultancy for public and private collections, promotes participation in art fairs and facilitates courses that address the female protagonism.
It is with great honor that the Female Latin Artists Institute is showing the Tromba d’Água (Waterspout ) exhibition, in its first tour, at the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow). First presented at Sesc São Gonçalo in 2024, the project to circulate the show begins as a desire to advance and expand the discussions that foster the role of contemporary art in thinking about ecologies and possible presents/futures. All fourteen artists invited to occupy this space translate, in their own poetic language, the direct and subjective relationship with the main source of human life as well as its main controversies and social, racial, and economic consequences.
Tromba d’Água (Waterspout)
Drop
Dripping
Rain
Rain shower
Cascade
Waterfall
Torrent
Waterspout
Sovereign strength, current, uncontrollable intensity that breaks the water’s edges and links up the sea, the sky, and the rivers.
The waters are for humankind like the sun is for the planets. Life gravitates around its contours, assembling itself in a gravitational attraction that allows survivability. Its power frames societies, gives whatever is needed to drink and to eat, generates energy, works as a means of transportation, and uncovers the naivety of whoever thinks has the power to dominate them.
The waterspout phenomenon, in the oceans, links up the sea and the sky by a columnar vortex, a kind of tornado that connects the clouds to the water surface. It creates a bond, a deal, a bridge between the marine life and the celestial powers. Its image imposes the power that water as action possesses.
In the rivers, its toughness can be life-threatening for the ones who are not aware of the signs from the waters that usually announce the coming of a violent current. It is also known as “cabeça d’água” [head of water], the waterspout phenomenon results from the excess of water around a headwater that intensifies the flow and drag everything in its way. Its intensity is able to break down and modify the riverbanks.
The exhibition Tromba d’Água (Waterspout) gathers elaborations by fourteen Latin-American artists about the collectivity as catalyst of transformations. Artworks by Alice Yura, Azizi Cypriano, Guilhermina Augusti, Jeane Terra, Luna Bastos, Marcela Cantuária, Mariana Rocha, Marilyn Boror Bor, Natalia Forcada, Rafaela Kennedy, Roberta Holiday, Rosana Paulino, Suzana Queiroga, and Thais Iroko encompass subject matter on spirituality — in a close relationship with deities that reign the waters —, on ancestry — in a spiral and matriarchal perspective —, and on the inherent relationship between feminine and nature — in its strength to nurture and transform. Altogether, these artworks versify on how matrilineal stories, memories, and imaginations pass through the barriers imposed to women existence.
In a social context that intends to suffocate, bury, and ignore the environmental drive, the waterspout phenomenon emerges as a reference to the respect that we own for having this impetuous energy. In this exhibition, the characteristics of the water create space so we can walk through new routes in order to build a society based on sensitive relationships between mankind and nature. Here, the artists present proposals which ignore the obstacles that could restrict their agency and clear the ways that had once been blocked.
It is about Climate Justice
Latin America is the second global region most susceptible to climate change effects that result from the extractivist, developmental, and profit-making human action. The rainstorms, floods, and deluges are some of the common disasters in regions of tropical climate. Since the European invasion and colonization, the established concept about progress has addressed proposals of urbanization that cover with concrete what had once been natural tools of drainage spout. These proposals also construct buildings in regions where there had once been tributaries and raise vast strongholds to explore natural resources, abusing the consumption of fossil fuels.
Following the news of the recent floods in Rio Grande do Sul, many people were touched by the tragic loss of life, material, and immaterial goods of the people whose homes were flooded by the water. Efforts have been made by donations, rescues organized by civil society, and raising awareness about how to help. However, at times like these, it is even more important to understand and demand from the State to ensure the safety of the people living along the water's edge.
It is not possible to ignore climate justice agendas, a concept that makes it clear who are the people who suffer most violently from the consequences of disasters. The most vulnerable populations live far from the most financially privileged areas. In emergency situations, these impoverished regions will suffer the most violently from the consequences of human actions against the environment.
This exhibition aims to redirect attention, highlighting the fundamental respect to the relationship with nature and, above all, the political and business instances of these relationships. There is an urgent need to prevent and mitigate future environmental disasters and their consequences. It is necessary to deter any kind of deforestation as well as restrain the actions of modernity that act strategically to destroy the ecosystem.
Credits
MUSEU DO AMANHÃ
Diretor Executivo
Cristiano Vasconcelos
Curador
Fabio Scarano
Gerência Geral de Conteúdo
Camila Oliveira
Exposições
Caetana Lara Resende
Ingrid Vidal
Julia Deccache
Julia Meira
Guilherme Venancio
Rafael Salimena
Nathália Simonetti
Lorena Peña
Equipe de Museologia
Tatiana Paz
Fabiana Motta
Camilla Brito
Atendimento ao Público
Wagner Turques Guinesi
Alice Villa Frango
Nilson da Silva Ramos
Alessandra Batista da Conceição Penna
Brenda Pinheiro de Oliveira
Caio Correa de Sousa
Caue de Albuquerque Barroso
Douglas Porto Velho
Fernando Lopes Barbosa
Gabriel da Silva Ramos
Guilherme Augusto Gouveia
Igor Pereira Alencar
Ismael Freire de Almeida
Jose Americo da Rocha Filho
Jose Francisco de Souza
Luis Rodrigo dos Santos
Mariana Macedo do Nascimento
Matheus dos Santos Oliveira
Queren Priscila Oliveira de Souza
Rafael de Souza de Almeida
Raisa Medeiros de Oliveira
Shirlei de Oliveira Chagas
Vinicius Marcelo de Oliveira dos Santos
Vitor Santos da Silva
Yan Gomes Silveira
Educação Museal
Stephanie Santana
Renan Freira
Bianca Paes Araújo
Bruno Baptista
Fernanda De Castro
Juan Barbosa
Julia Mayer
Juliana Câmara
Marcus Andrade
Maria Luiza Lopes
Nicolle Portela
Nicolle Soalheiro
Thainá Nunes
Vinicius Andrade
Vinicius Valentino
Instalações Audiovisuais
Luiz Lima
Ana Barth
Bruno Carreiro
Edson Castro
Vanderson Vieira
Inovatec Soluções Audiovisuais
Instalação Elétrica
Francisco Galdino
Diogo Freire
Marlon Vidal
Silas Miranda
Alexandre Souto
Jefton Elias
Ezequiel Tavares
Jose Petrucio
Camila Fraga
EXPOSIÇÃO TROMBA D`ÁGUA
Curadoria
Ana Carla Soler, Carolina Rodrigues e Francela Carrera
Artistas
Alice Yura, Azizi Cypriano, Guilhermina Augusti, Jeane Terra, Luna Bastos, Marcela Cantuária, Mariana Rocha, Marilyn Boror Bor, Natalia Forcada, Rafaela Kennedy, Roberta Holiday, Rosana Paulino, Suzana Queiroga e Thais Iroko
Direção Geral e Artística
Paulo Farias
Direção de Produção
Marianna Botelho
Produção
Lorena Peña | Museu do Amanhã
Órbita Produções
Projeto Expográfico
Gisele de Paula Arquitetura
Projeto de Design
Marina Castilho
Projeto de Iluminação
Katona Design
Assistentes De Expografia
Iolaos Coelho
Alexandra Souza
Cenotécnico
Cactus Produções
Gráfica
Base Comunicação Visual
Montagem Fina
Kbedim
Museologia
Laura Ghelman
Débora Koury
Acessibilidade de Conteúdo
Jéssica Valente – Intérprete De Libras
Igor Affonso – Desenvolvimento De Obras Táteis
Paju Sa Engenharia - Piso E Mapa Tátil
Advogado
Gabriel Reis
Agradecimentos
Irana Gaia, Melissa Ganaha, Cida Paulino, Lorenna Gaetti, Mendes Wood DM, Marcio Botner, Bianca Bernardo, Luiza Martelotte, A Gentil Carioca, Galeria Matias Brotas, André Stock e Roberto Calmon, Tonico Pereira, Wellington Ribeiro, Daniel Freitas, Ana Portocarrero, Fabiano Cunha, Caetana Nestorov, Julia Deccache, Ingrid Vidal, Camila Oliveira e toda equipe do Museu do Amanhã
INSTITUTO ARTISTAS LATINAS
Presidente
Paulo Farias
Vice Presidente
Marianna Botelho
Secretária
Priscila Dantas
Conselho Curatorial
Ana Carla Soler, Carolina Rodrigues e Francela Carrera
Arquiteta
Gisele De Paula
Advogados
Gabriel Reis
Haline Vaz