Dinho Araújo

Dinho Araújo investigates the relationships between race and history through masks, performance, and expanded photography. He employs leather and cloth caretas—masks from Maranhão's Bumba Meu Boi tradition—as crossroads devices that invoke presences and stage encounters in public space. His works articulate the geometry of forms and the contrast between red and black to evoke insurgency and historical resistance. Dinho transposes the mysticism of the Boi's matanças into a contemporary context, bringing the visuality of the festival into dialogue with processes of survival in mocambos and quilombos. The careta functions as a passageway between the visible and the enchanted, between resistance and ritual.

He has participated in the group exhibitions "Um Defeito de Cor" (Museu de Arte do Rio, 2022; Museu Nacional da Cultura Afro-Brasileira, Salvador, 2023; Sesc Pinheiros, 2025), "Nordeste expandido: estratégias de (re)existência" (Banco do Nordeste Cultural, 2023–2025), and "Lélia em nós: festas populares e amefricanidade" (Sesc Vila Mariana, 2024). His solo exhibition "História dos animais e árvores" was presented as part of the 33rd Exhibition Program of the Centro Cultural São Paulo in 2024. He was nominated for the PIPA Prize in 2021. His work is part of the collection of the Museu do Pontal, in Rio de Janeiro. He is the manager of Chão SLZ and the Núcleo de Pesquisa e Produção de Imagem (NUPPI).