Paulo Nazareth: Luzia

This is the first solo exhibition in Mexico of the artist Paulo Nazareth (Brazil, 1977), who amalgamates decades of work through a variety of media and supports. Nazareth, who identifies himself as a member of the People of Luzia (Povo de Luzia), presents an exercise in historiographic speculation in search of the enigmatic figure called Luzia: a fossil, an ancestor, a saint, a city, a people, and an Afro-indigenous territory.
Nazareth is known for his “behavioral art,” an artistic practice that develops in the radical movements he performs while crossing borders on foot. By activating bodily memory and guided by a spiraling temporality, the artist challenges the authority of scientific discourses by negotiating the complex terrain of Latin American identity.
Reflecting on the racial economy and colonial updates in our contemporary world, Luzia highlights the relevance of Mexico (as a place and context) for this artist who shows us how forced displacements and migratory flows reconfigure the historical traces that founded and made impossible the idea of a unified humanity.
The exhibition, curated by Fernanda Brenner and Diane Lima, with the curatorial assistance of Mel Marcondes and Lena Solà Nogué, can be visited until February 9, 2025. For more information, visit: https://www.museotamayo.org/exposiciones/luzia