Camará Exposição (Exhibition): Unsettling National and State Histories with Personal Narratives
Exploring Resistance and Transformation in Brasilian Art
The Meaning of Camará:
Camará is a plant native to the Americas, found across Brasil. Its name comes from the Indigenous Tupi-Guarani language, spoken across central Brasil and Paraguay.[1]The plant is carries a dual identity— both admired for its bright flowers and classified as an invasive species.[2] It spreads aggressively through pastures and crops, threatening agriculture, yet is also incorporated into city gardens, like the Pampulha Modern Complex.[3]
Because of the admiration and frustration the plant produces, Camará has become a symbol for “resistance and occupation” in Brasilian art and culture.[4] In 2023, it was chosen as the central theme for the 9th Bolsa Pampulha, a contemporary art program and artistic residency affiliated with the Museu de Arte da Pampulha.[5] This initiative aims to support “education, research and experimentation with the local and national artistic community”, awarding 11 scholarships. In 2024, the scholarships went to ten artists and one curatorial researcher, who came from the five regions of Brasil and exhibited paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations, poems, and material culture.[6]
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to see this enlightening exhibition, named Camará, at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Belo Horizonte. The artists challenged historical narratives and unearthed hidden stories about Brasil’s natural and urban environments, and their transformation over time. Rafael Prado and André Felipe Cardoso demonstrate the power of personal memories in unsettling broader national and state narratives. With their paintings, poetry, and material culture, they reexamine social and environmental transformations and highlight the experiences of displaced communities.
Central Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais
Camará
Os Guardiões da Floresta by Rafael Prado
Os Guardiões da Floresta (the Guardians of the Forest) by Rafael Prado
Rafael Prado, born in the upper Madeira River region of the Brasilian state of Rondônia, is inspired by the rich legends of the Amazon Forest.[7] Once covered by 200,000 square kilometres of dense forest, Rondônia, with neighbouring areas, is home to nearly 60 Indigenous communities and 50 distinct language groups.[8] However, centuries of Europeans colonisation and more recent economic expansion have devastated the land and displaced its people, making it one of the most deforested regions of the Amazon.[9]
In Camará, Rafael confronts this story of ongoing destruction and the resilience of Indigenous communities. In his art, he honours the trees that still stand while mourning what has been mercilessly erased. In doing so, we see how nature can endure in personal and collective memory.[10]
Seeing Rafael’s work for the first time, my eyes went immediately to a large-scale canvas depicting five towering trees. At the top of tree trunks emerge the faces of Brasil’s most revered Indigenous activists: Paulo Paulino Guajajara, Ze Claudio and Maria, Chico Mendes, Nicinha, and Cacique (Chief) Maroaga. In a golden river, Rafael inscribes their legacy:[v]
“The forest is a sacred and Mysterious territory with many guardians… AMAZONIAN PEOPLE DON’T DIE, THEY BECOME SEEDS![11]”
Rafael’s work is centred on Indigenous perspectives and traditional storytelling.[12] He portrays the forests and its people as an interconnected ecosystem. Rivers, trees, animals, and human communities are intimately related and protect one another. [13] In doing so, Rafael challenges Eurocentric narratives of progress and actively seeks to decolonise the history of the Amazon.[14]
Dissolving the boundaries between land and people, the real and the fantastical, Rafael’s paintings evoke the sacredness of the country’s forests (florestas). His fantastical imagery dismantles rigid dichotomies, bringing focus to the legends passed down through generations.[15] This connection between generations is also powerfully demonstrated by a guardian looking over two figures sailing the river., with an inscription below:[16]
“[The guardians] dedicated their lives to this land where they were buried. I ate seeds, their bodies were planted in the soil, the tears of their relatives watered the earth, and in time, majestic birds appeared, making this place sacred.[17]”
Urbanização (Urbanisation) by André Felipe Cardoso
Images left to right: 1) André Felipe Cardoso integrates natural elements into his poem ‘Fazenda Santo Antônio’ with a plank of wood; 2, 3 & 4) Unlike displays in traditional museums and galleries, the material culture accompanying the poems have no glass encasing.
André Felipe Cardoso finds inspiration in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, reflecting on its transformation. [18] Through poetry, he examines the impact of urbanisation on everyday life, questioning what has been sacrificed in the pursuit to ‘modernise’.
Cardoso presents three poems which pay tribute to the old farms and chapels in Belo Horizonte.[19] They convey a vivid picture of life before urbanisation, where communities gathered and celebrated. Interwoven in these memories is an emotional connection to place:
There was a cagaita tree
people sat on the bank
the chapel painted white had a blue cross on top
there was a bench made of furquias, pequi trees
a yard made of beaten earth
there were festivals, the most beautiful
it was the most beautiful thing of the year.
There was even a carnival and the youth always went to play.[20]
We are transported to sites of community, identity, and belonging. But underlying this wistful memory is an awareness of the depth of loss brought on by urban expansion. In another poem, grief is more pronounced.
Spinning top farm
after the gate: leafy trees
on the way to the house: a garden.
Big house
with tall and wide windows and doors
Balconies surround the shelter.
whoever saw it, saw it
I didn't see it
maybe no one will ever see it again.[21]
Cardoso pairs these poems with objects collected on his walks— decaying pieces of tiles, eroded statues, and religious crosses.[22] Unlike traditional artifacts, there is no glass encasement. I found this an interesting choice that made me feel like a barrier had been removed. Perhaps Cardoso was critiquing the way museums and galleries assert ownership over the past and the process of memory-making.
Written by Lauren Impey
References:
[1] Prefeitura Belo Horizonte. “PBH Lança Catálogo Da Exposição Camará, Da 9ª Edição Do Programa Bolsa Pampulha.” Prefeitura Belo Horizonte. February 21, 2025. https://prefeitura.pbh.gov.br/noticias/pbh-lanca-catalogo-da-exposicao-camara-da-9a-edicao-do-programa-bolsa-pampulha.
[2] Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Belo Horizonte. 9th Pampulha Scholarship: Camará. Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Belo Horizonte, 2025.
[3] Prefeitura Belo Horizonte. “PBH Lança Catálogo Da Exposição Camará,”.
[4] Prefeitura Belo Horizonte. “PBH Lança Catálogo Da Exposição Camará,”.
[5] Prefeitura Belo Horizonte. “ Artista da Exposição ‘9a Bolsa Pampulha: Camará apresenta obra ‘Lá’ no CCBB BH.” January 28, 2025. https://prefeitura.pbh.gov.br/noticias/artista-da-exposicao-9a-bolsa-pampulha-camara-apresenta-obra-la-no-ccbb-bh?__goc_wbp__=1360240029jAkUAQp5z8QcmrbIcXozY5rFoo.
[6] Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte (@ccbbbh). https://www.instagram.com/ccbbbh/p/DEDL3mKxlyz/?img_index=3.
[7] Rafael Prado Art. “About the Artist, Rafael Prado.” Rafael Prado Art. Accessed 31 march, 2025. https://www.rafaelprado.art/sobre.
[8] NASA Earth Observatory. “Deforestation in Rondônia, Brazil.” NASA Earth Observatory. 30 March, 2007. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/7548/deforestation-in-rondonia-brazil.
[9] NASA Earth Observatory. “Deforestation in Rondônia, Brazil.”
[10] Prado, Rafael. “I remember the trees when I wasn’t even born yet.” Rafael Prado’s Website. Accessed March 31, 2025. https://www.rafaelprado.art/c%C3%B3pia-%C3%B3rf%C3%A3os-do-eldorado.
[11] Prado, Rafael. Os Guardiões da Floresta. 2024. oil on canvas. Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte
[12] Prado. Os Guardiões da Floresta.
[13] Rafael Prado Art, “About the Artist, Rafael Prado.”
[14] Rafael Prado Art, “About the Artist, Rafael Prado.”
[15] 9a Bolsa Pampulha (@bolsapampulha). https://www.instagram.com/p/C77Iqxpu5v4/?hl=en.
[16] 9a Bolsa Pampulha (@bolsapampulha). https://www.instagram.com/p/C77Iqxpu5v4/?hl=en.
[17] Prado. Os Guardiões da Floresta.
[18] Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Belo Horizonte. 9th Pampulha Scholarship: Camará.
[19] Felipe Cardoso, André. Camará, Exhibition Centro Cultural do Branco Brasil, Belo Horizonte.
[20] Felipe Cardoso. Capela de Nossa Senhora do Rosário do Jatoba. Centro Cultural do Branco Brasil, Belo Horizonte.
[21] Felipe Cardoso. Fazenda do Pião. Centro Cultural do Branco Brasil, Belo Horizonte.
[22] 9a Bolsa Pampulha (@bolsapampulha). https://www.instagram.com/p/C77Iqxpu5v4/?hl=en.