Yêdamaria’s production in painting, collage, and engraving mostly thematised still lifes with motifs of her daily life, Afro-religious deities, the seascape of Salvador – the capital of the state of Bahia, Brazil – as well as nods to Black and feminist movements. Her self-portrait Proteção de Yemanjá (1978) gathers elements from traditional portraiture with imaginary and subjective ones. Her serene, symmetrical face is centred in the canvas, and she wears a pink coat that contrasts with the background’s predominant blue. Behind her, there is a balustrade, then a boat, and a solid blue that suggests the sea and the sky. This juxtaposition of elements contrasts an architectural space and the landscape. In the turban on her head, there is an alternation of textured and solid colours, sometimes suggesting two people flanking the red star in the centre; sometimes gathering the image of two mermaids, with the fish tails and long hair that allude to Yemanjá, the orisha (a Yoruba deity) of the seas present in the work’s title. It is unclear if the mermaids are a print on the turban or the representation of a psychic projection – as if one could see inside the artist’s head.
This is the first time the work of Yêdamaria is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Leandro Muniz
