Silvana Mendes

Silvana Mendes develops her practice from research linked to racial questions, territory, affirmative policies, and the deconstruction of negative visualities imposed on Black bodies. By exploring and reconfiguring the colonial archive, the artist reclaims and cuts out images of Black people, setting them against vibrant and sumptuous backdrops, displacing these figures from the semiotics of subalternity to propose new existential possibilities. Her work carries a strong autobiographical dimension, using collage and painting as tools for listening and recovering family and ancestral memories, filling the gaps of historical erasure through political imagination and affective reinvention.

She has presented the solo exhibitions "Libertadores Brasileiros" (Sesc Maranhão, São Luís, 2021) and "Ocupação Trapiche #07, Divina Presença" (São Luís, 2018). She participated in the two-person exhibition "A onda é o caminho do vento," with Tassila Custodes (Centro Cultural Vale Maranhão, São Luís, 2026). She has also participated in group exhibitions, biennials, and other projects, including "Ladino-Amefricanas" (Sesc Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, 2025); "Artistas do vestir: uma costura dos afetos" (Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, 2024); "Encruzilhadas da Arte Afro-Brasileira" (CCBB-SP, 2023–2024); "Something Else—Bienal do Cairo" (Cairo, 2023); "Dos Brasis—Arte e Pensamento Negro" (Sesc Belenzinho, São Paulo, 2023); "Quilombo: vida, problemas e aspirações do negro" (Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, 2023); "Um defeito de cor" (Museu de Arte do Rio, 2023); and "Carolina Maria de Jesus: Um Brasil para os brasileiros" (Instituto Moreira Salles and Sesc Sorocaba, 2022). She was nominated for the PIPA Prize in 2023 and 2025, received an honorable mention at the 13th Prix Photo Aliança Francesa, and won first place at the 14th edition of the prize in 2025.