Alumni of Vila Sul

Germany

Cate Lartey is an artist and curator based in Düsseldorf, Germany. She studied retail and communication design at the Peter Behrens Kunstschule in Düsseldorf. She is also completing a postgraduate degree in Art and Media Studies from the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne. Her artistic and curatorial practice is dedicated to visual and material culture, with a particular focus on Africa, its diaspora and beyond. She explores this through photography, publications and media art. An aesthetic and intellectual dialogue is at the heart of her work.

She has collaborated with Kunstsammlung NRW, Kunstverein Köln, Dortmunder U and Fachhochschule Düsseldorf and Dortmund. In 2020 she exhibited her photographic work "Clothes of dead white people" at "Fluctoplasma" in Hamburg. As a freelance curator at the Dortmunder U, she curated the accompanying programme for the exhibition EFIE. The Museum as Home. Art from Ghana. In 2023 she co-curated the exhibition "Point of" as part of the f2 photo festival at the Kulturdepot Dortmund.

"The fellowship in Salvador da Bahia excites me in many ways, not only because it will be a unique and enriching experience, but also because it will open up new ways for me to connect and relate to the richness and boundlessness of Afro-Brazilian hybridity, especially in Salvador da Bahia."

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  Instagram @ceitii

South Africa

Huda Tayob is a South African architect, theorist and architectural historian. Her research focuses on minor, migrant and subaltern architectures. She is co-curator of the open access curriculum Racespacearchitecture.org, and lead curator of the digital platform the Archive of Forgetfulness. She exhibited at the 18th International architecture exhibition in Venice (2023), with a project titled Index of Edges, which traces watery archives, methods and stories of migrant architectures along east African coastal edges, from Cape Town, South Africa to Port Said, Egypt. She is currently working on a manuscript project titled 'Opaque Architectures:Black Markets as Infrastructures of Care' - a project which draws out trans-national sites established by African migrants, as sites of possibility.

"Opaque Architectures is a research and writing project which draws together the everyday life of architectures and urban environments, with postcolonial, decolonial and subaltern studies literature and Black studies frameworks to ask how we might reconsider sites and spaces inhabited by marginalised African populations. At Vila Sul, I would like to extend and develop the theoretical framework for this writing project, by engaging with a range of global south scholars to ask what a ‘sustainable urbanism’ might look like when foregrounding marginalised and migrant populations, amidst forced displacement increasing linked to climate crises and ongoing high levels of urban violence? How might we develop practices and theories for understanding overlooked urban processes? How do ‘black urbanisms’ speak to the fungible and fugitive practices of making an urban life, across the globe, within and beyond the south?"

Grantee under the "Rethinking the South - Repensando Sul" program from the KfW Foundation.

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  Instagram @hudatayob

Brazil/ Germany

Jota Ramos (b.Brazil, 1989) is a transmasculine non - binary multidisciplinary artist based in Berlin. Beginning with autobiographical artistic experiments, Ramos explores the practices of performance, video, installation, photography, and poetry. Creating peripheral dissident subjectivities that dialogue with symbolic, etymological, and Black and gender identity references, he seeks to bring a poetic reflection as a healing space thinking about how to portray the authenticity of the brown body in a genuine way, as a light-skinned Black person. His research investigates tools to build an antiracist and powerful representation of Black trans people’s sociality, identity, and their historical journey.

"The Vila Sul residence holds immense significance within my research journey. As a black trans person who is also part of the ballroom community, this residency opens up a connection between Brazil and Berlin. As a Brazilian living in Germany "Private Property" emerges as a performance series that delves into the intricate dynamics of accessing trans bodies without consent. This residency provides a unique lens through which to examine the complexities of the Brazilian context."

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  Instagram @iamjotaramos

Germany

Paula Hildebrandt (*1976 in Berlin) is an author, filmmaker, and urban researcher who, in her works, combines literary writing, photography, video, performative actions, and experimental teaching. Her texts have been published in numerous art and culture magazines, academic collections, anthologies, and online. Her latest book, "Welcome City" (adocs 2022), portrays Hamburg as a welcoming city and has been recognized as one of the "Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2023" (Most Beautiful German Books of 2023).

"Esu killed a bird yesterday with the stone he threw today. Can we really do that - make time our own? The riddle of time. How to deal with a haunting past while simultaneously acting in the present, with its stratifications, crossroads, traces? Together with artists/researchers based in Salvador I hope to explore ways of telling, showing and performing stories."

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  paulahildebrandt.de

Clarissa Rebouças is a theater and film director with a master's degree from Université Laval/Canada. She holds a postgraduate degree in screenwriting and a bachelor's degree in Film and Video. She has directed and written several short films that have been shown in national and international film festivals. Among them are the award-winning films "Desvelo" (2012) and "Émergence" (2018). Clarissa also worked as a collaborator for the writing of the Brazilian TV series "Santo Forte" and "Meu irmão nerd". Currently she is dedicated to her feature film project titled "Cine Ruby".

Fellow of the Council of Arts and Letters of Quebec (CALQ) at the Vila Sul residence

Quasi-artist born and raised in the outskirts of São Paulo, in the neighborhood of Parada de Taipas. Grandson of Rosa (Rose) and Esmeraldo (Emerald), Diego Crux is of the color that recalls memory. He researches intimate and personal callings, collective experiences, representation, design, visual samples, words. Crux has participated in exhibitions in São Paulo, Curitiba, Accra (GH), Arles (FR) and Copenhagen (DK) and in residencies, such as Pivô (2020) curated by Thiago de Paula Souza and MAM Rio (2021) coordinated by Camilla Rocha Campos.

Fellow of the program "Rethinking the South - Repensando Sul" from the KfW Foundation.

The Berlin-based Venezuelan artist Gotopo is making waves with her debut EP, "Sacúdete," set to release on May 16 under the prestigious Waxploitation Records label. A multi-talented singer, composer, producer, and performer, Gotopo draws inspiration from her South American heritage, blending folkloric stringed instruments with techno-inspired beats to explore her Afroindigenous legacy. Her music seeks to confront the historical erasure of her people due to colonialism, finding answers through ancestral futurism and weaving together the beautiful and painful stories of her ancestors. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Gotopo received her musical training in Barquisimeto, renowned for its musical conservatory and the youth orchestra system, El Sistema, which produced Gustavo Dudamel.

Recently moving to Berlin, she has transitioned from street busking to participating in cutting-edge music events at the prestigious Humboldt Forum. Gotopo aims to blur the boundaries between classical and club music, academic and pop culture, merging the traditional with the contemporary. Her musical project began with the single "Malembe," exploring her Afroindigenous roots and spirituality. Fusing electro-beats with fuzzy guitars and synths, the song draws from an AfroVenezuelan hymn intended to provide spiritual farewells to enslaved relatives. Gotopo's upcoming album continues this exploration, reinventing folkloric music by infusing it with the vibrant electronic energy of Berlin's club scene.

The EP "Sacúdete" is a collaboration with producer Don Elektron (Ulises Lozano), a member of the Mexican electronica band Kinky, who has worked with various artists. Gotopo's unique blend of classical training, knowledge of traditional instruments like the cuatro and guitar, and her pursuit of ancestral memory through music make her stand out as a true innovator.

Her music has been well-received in Berlin, with performances at events like the X Jazz Festival and an opening act for Bomba Estereo. The city's innovation, creative energy, and support for women artists of color have been inspiring for Gotopo's artistic journey.
While she adapts to life in Berlin, she continues to learn the German language, as depicted in the award-winning mini-documentary, "Gotopo: The Sound of My Destiny." Embracing the gritty yet sexy atmosphere of Berlin, Gotopo is determined to push her artistic boundaries and explore new horizons in this vibrant city.

Fellow of the MusicBoardBerlin in the Vila Sul Residence

Odun Orimolade engages her practice in an experimental and multifaceted perspective of trans-disciplinary approaches, research and collaborations. She keeps an open contexture to her pedagogic, artistic and curatorial practice attending to a mix of ideologies and worldviews cultivated from different resource areas. This leads her into explorations of human behavioural tendencies, orientation and interaction as mechanisms for navigation. Orimolade’s research interests revolve around approaches to practice, creative engagement, navigation and influences that challenge and inform creative production for positive external impact. She explores possibilities for professional practice development, learning mediums and pedagogies that provide fresh avenues for flexible creative exploration. Her research also interrogates issues and initiatives that promote or confine practice. She pursues an interest in participatory research practices, as artistic intervention into a range of different spaces. Orimolade is passionate about creating mentorship avenues and contributes to different fields of creative activity alongside community projects.

Fellow of the program "Rethinking the South - Repensando Sul" from the KfW Foundation.

Mba Bikoro is a visual artist merging archeology, sonic radio, writing, textiles, sculpture, live art performances, film & archives for immersive installations. Her work analyses processes of power & science fictions in historical archives critically engaging in migrational struggles & colonial memory focusing on queer indigenous and feminist biopolitics. She is lecturer in visual cultures & philosophy at TransArt Institute and is Artistic Director of Lukulule e.V. in partnership with the MARKK Museum. She curates Nyabingi Lab with projects “Decolonise The Green; Nature, Nudism and Colonial Continuities ”and“ Free State of Barackia: 150 Years of Decolonial Urbanism, Solidarity & New Berlin Utopias ”in collaboration with Z/KU and HAU Berlin. She moderates the annual Berlinale Film Festival & is a co-beneficiary of the “Somatic Charting” project of the Institute for Endotic Research.
 

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  Instagram @nbikoro

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  www.anguezomo-bikoro.com

Caroline Gueye was born and raised in Senegal where she grew up immersed in an artistic environment under the influence of her grandfather Paul Ahyi who designed the Togolese flag.
She pursued her higher education in France, the United States and China and she holds degrees in astrophysics, atmospheric physics and Chinese. Currently she ist working on a PhD in art and science at the university of Lyon in France.

Her work in the studio of the Chinese artist Qin Chong (亲冲) in 2016 inspired her in her preference for volume. Since then she has participated, all combined, in more than thirty group exhibitions, solos and residencies on four continents. At the Dakar Biennale 2022 she received the prize for the best artist in West Africa (ECOWAS prize).

Grantee of the "Rethinking the South - Repensando Sul" program, supported by the KfW Foundation

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  Instagram @StudioCarolineGueye

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  www.carolinegueye.com

Kalaf Epalanga (1978) is a writer and musician born in Benguela, Angola, and based in Berlin. As a musician, he co-founded the record label Enchufada and is a member of Buraka Som Sistema (on hiatus since 2016). He has written columns for the Portuguese newspaper O Público, GQ Magazine (Portugal), the independent Angolan online magazine REDE Angola. He is currently a columnist for the Brazilian literary magazine Quatro Cinco Um. In Portugal and Angola he published two collections of literary chronicles; ‘Estórias de Amor para Meninos de Cor’ <Love Stories for Colored Kids> and ‘O Angolano que Comprou Lisboa (Por Metade do Preço)’ <The Angolan who Bought Lisbon (at Half the Price) >.

He curated the 2021 Berlin African Book Festival 'Também os Brancos Sabem Dançar' <Whites Can Dance Too>. His debut novel, will be translated to English by Daniel Hahn and published by Faber in the summer of 2023.

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  Instagram @kalafepalanga

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  kalafepalanga.com

Rafael Giles Martinez is an international writer who was born in 1985 in Mexico. He graduated at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Communication of La Salle University/Mexico in 2008. Afterwards he pursued his career working in communication, publishing, and production at different editorial offices. He has a postgraduate degree in Programme Evaluation from the Université du Québec at Ecole Nationale D'Administration Publique (ENAP) and besides Spanish, he speaks English and French. Rafael can show a broad range of professional experiences having worked at the forum of the film festival Festival of Nouveau Cinema (FNC), for the international organisation of the French-speaking world, l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and at the Canadian university l'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Furthermore, he has gathered experiences working in the Ateliers of Digital Literary Creation and at the project The Publication as a Space for Artistic Exhibition at the Center for Digital Culture (CCD)/Mexico. Apart from that, Rafael takes part in two programmes of the Canadian government board “Les Offices jeunesse internationaux du Québec” (LOJIQ), firstly, their Career Development Programme and, secondly, their programme Engagement Citoyen.

He obtained the residency at VILA SUL supported by the Goethe-Institut SalvadorBahia and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec (CALQ).

Lisa C Soto is a visual artist based in Puerto Rico and Ghana. Imagery of actual and imagined cartography is used in her work to address local and global interactions, tropical flora and cosmic connections. Her multi-medium, large-scale installations – including , flora and earth-based materials, instruments/games, and industrial materials, question hierarchies and binaries, reflecting on rhizomatic patterns in nature and challenging Western “rational” approaches to knowledge.

Selected exhibitions include Negro/A/X group exhibition at Corredor Afro gallery, 2020, Loiza, Puerto Rico; the Getty Foundation initiative PST LA/LA, Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, traveling group exhibition from 2017 – 2019; “Convergence”, a 2018 collaboration with Adjaye Associates creating her first permanent installation in the public realm in Newark, NJ. Artist lectures include MIT, Ford Foundation, KNUST, Claremont Graduate University and Rutgers University. Soto is currently an MFA candidate at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)/Ghana.

Grantee of the program "Rethinking the South - Repensando Sul" from the KfW Foundation.

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  lisacsoto.com

Olivia Hyunsin Kim works internationally as a choreographer and curator. She won first place in the 2019 Amadeu Antonio Art Prize/Germany, and completed her MA in Choreography and Performance at the Institute of ATW Giessen with honours. Prior to that, she also completed her BA in German Studies with a focus on International Politics at Seoul National University with honours and has also studied dance at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and Falmouth University/ Great Britain.  She has held fellowships at Impulstanz 2017/ Vienna, Goethe-Institut Montréal and Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique 2022, and at the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul/ Turkey, among others. In the 2022/23 season, she is composer-in-residence at the Staatsoper Hannover/Germany, where she curates and creates artistic works.

Her works have been shown at Sophiensælen Berlin, tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf, Schwankhalle Bremen, Rote Fabrik Zurich, Art Sonje Center Seoul and Museo Universitario del Chopo Mexico City, among others. Under the name ddanddarakim she works in recurring constellations with artists from different disciplines on choreographic works with a queer-feminist and postcolonial focus.

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  ddanddarakim.net

Choreographer, dancer, curator and activist Raphael Moussa Hillebrand was born in Hong Kong in 1982, rooted in Germany and West Africa, raised in Berlin and trained through Hip Hop. In June 2014, he completed his master's degree in choreography at the University of the Arts - HZT Berlin. Based on this background, he picks up his instinct for socio-political issues as well as translating cultural facets and identities and transfers them into his choreographic works of Hip Hop Dance Theater. With the same passion, he has been working with children and young people as well as students and teachers on a wide variety of levels since 1998, empowering through dance.

As an idea generator and founding member of the world's first hip-hop political party: Die Urbane. A Hip-Hop Party, he advocates decolonization as well as empowerment and cultural diversity, among other things. His current theater piece, produced at Ballhaus Naunynstraße/ Berlin "On my shoulders" premiered in September 2019. In 2020, he was honored by the German Dance Award for his outstanding artistic development in dance.

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  raphaelmoussa.com/de/

Émilie B. Guérette is a nomadic filmmaker whose roots are in Quebec and heart in Brazil. She directs documentary films related to social justice, human rights and migrations. Her multidisciplinary background in anthropology, political science, poetry and music is reflected in her socially engaged, sensitive and sensory approach, taking the side of those left behind. She sees documentary as an art of the encounter which aims at building bridges between human beings.

Fellow of the Council of Arts and Letters of Quebec (CALQ) at the Vila Sul residence

"ASIAN BERLIN PUSSY POWER" is what the talented MC from Neukölln calls her attitude, which not only stands for empowering Rap, but also makes her the voice of many concerned people. The self-confident newcomer enriches the German rap scene with her unique mix of attitude and distinctive skills, a strong, political awareness and humorous as well as devastating punchlines.

Fellow of the MusicBoardBerlin in the Vila Sul Residence

João dos Santos Martins (Santarém, Portugal, 1989) is an artist, who studied at the Escola Superior de Dança (Lisbon), at P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), at e.x.er.c.e, (Montpellier) and at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies (Giessen). His work, usually developed in collaborative processes, encompasses various forms that focus on dance, whether through choreography or exhibition. These forms are traversed by questions concerning genealogies of dance history, processes of transmission, the relationship between practice and discourse, and paradoxes about the activity of dancing. Together with Ana Bigotte Vieira, he has created a structure for the collective mapping of dance in Portugal - Para Uma Timeline a Haver. He has performed in dance pieces by Ana Rita Teodoro, Eszter Salamon, Moriah Evans, Xavier Le Roy, Jérôme Bel, Manuel Pelmuş, Rui Horta, among others. In 2014, he founded Parasita, a cooperative of artists of which he is a member.

Koffi Mensah, an autodidact visual artist is born in Lome, Togo, in 1982. As a youth, Koffi Mensah catches a virus and develops a passion for the visual art in all its dimensions. Thus, he absolved several training and workshop at drawing. With the excitement to acquire more knowledge and eager to satisfy his soul and achieve his dream, the boy of 17 years old started a long journey full of adventures and leaved his country, Togo to undergo many training workshop in Accra, Abidjan, Niamey and Cotonou.

After these experiences Koffi Mensah has finally decided to establish himself at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where he makes more exposure for himself by demonstrating his technique skills on visual art.
The multi-dimension artist never stopped astonishing his admirers with his art work.

Combining the esthetic and comfort via sculpture and painting, the creative artist strongly believes that all creatures are the result of a symbol of two faces of the same coin.

Besides the influences of his mentors or elders such as Ousman Sow from Senegal and El Anatui from Ghana, Koffi Mensah is inspired of new relevant technique borrowed from the nature by creating the figurative arts and portraits. He claims to the world that he emancipates himself from all dogmatic theories. He always reflects his intimate relationship of his art and lives accordingly. Today, Koffi Mensah is a spiritual minded person and believes that the instinct has a capital impact on his art. He realizes several institutional artwork such as the portrait of Burkina Faso’s first President, Maurice Yameogo (4 meters height).


In 2018, the artist received an award, Grand Prix du Dessin d’art in Burkina Faso.

Mario Pfeifer (*1981, Dresden, Germany) lives and works in Berlin and Dresden. In his work, he explores representational structures and conventions in the medium of video, film and new media in places such as Mumbai, California, the Atacama Desert, the Brazilian Quarter in Lagos or the Western Sahara. He conceives each project starting from a specific cultural situation, exploring socio-political backgrounds and weaving cross-cultural art historical, cinematic, technological and political references into a multi-layered body of work ranging from film and video installations to text installations and photography.
 
Mario participated in the 10th Berlin Biennale (2018), the 11th Bienal do Mercosul (2017), the 3° Montevideo Biennale (2016) and the 4th Marrakech Biennale (2012). Survey exhibitions were held at the GfZK Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig in 2016 and at The Power Plant in Toronto in 2019. Numerous solo exhibitions at Museum Folkwang, Edith Russ House for Media Art, Berlinische Galerie, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile, among others. A solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Winterthur is planned for 2023. His films have been shown at film festivals around the world. Several monographs have been published by Sternberg Press and Mousse Publishing. His works are in private and public collections in Europe and North America, including the Getty Center Los Angeles, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Bundeskunstsammlung Bonn, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Oliver Hardt is a film director, author and filmmaker. His documentaries regularly explore Black culture and history, including "Black Germany" (2006), "The United States of Hoodoo" (2011), "David Adjaye - Collaborations" (2015) and "The Black Museum" (2018). In 2021, he curated the film series "Black is not a colour" for the Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt. He is currently working on the screenplay for his first feature film.

Alexandra Rodríguez (Culturalex) is a multimedia artist, curator, and educator based in Montreal. Born in Venezuela, she has lived in Brazil, Switzerland, Mexico and Canada. This multicultural upbringing, combined with her love for nature, folklore and culture, often converge into creations that are recognizable by their vibrancy, diversity and multisensory dimensions. 

In 2015, Alexandra created "Bio Electro Sounds", an interactive musical installation that she has presented around the world. She equally enjoys creating and curating experiences and events where different art disciplines meet, such as the online exhibition "Curando" (2020) in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Salvador-Bahia, the "Festival de las Artes" in partnership with the Tuxtla Gutiérrez City Museum (2016), and "Alegría", an independent food & art pop-up (Montreal, 2018). The artist is also active as a DJ and educator offering workshops on creative multidisciplinary practices. 

Some of the places she has presented her work include the Berlin Food Art Week, The Tuxtla Gutiérrez City Museum and The Modern-Fuel Artist-Run Center in Kingston/ Canada.

Fellow of the Council of Arts and Letters of Quebec (CALQ) at the Vila Sul residence

Florencia Romano is a professor at Fundación Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, teaching as assigment supervisor in the History of Cinema, Film Semiotics and Film Aesthetics departments. As a filmmaker, her first feature film "La noche polar" premiered at the Entrevues Belfort International Film Festival/ France in 2016. She also works as a film critic collaborating for different publications (La Vida Útil, Otra Parte Digital, TranceZonda). Currently, she holds a PhD scholarship from CONICET ( Consejo National de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), working on a research proyect about contemporary Argentine and Brazilian Cinema.

Jackie Thomae was born in Halle/Saale, grew up in Leipzig, and moved to Berlin in 1989, where she still lives today. She is a journalist, television writer and author.

Renata Martins (São Paulo, 1980) is a social worker, art critic, translator and freelance curator based in Bonn, Germany, where she works since 2018 in the Latin America Department of Deutsche Welle. For 10 years, she worked in various departments of the Goethe-Institut in São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Montevideo (cultural program, pedagogical cooperation, German teaching and administration). She writes for various media outlets in Brazil, Germany and Argentina on visual arts, culture and society, especially on South American artists. In 2021, she curated and organized for the Goethe-Institut Salvador the virtual catalogue "Arte+ Panorama of Transvestigeneres Visual Artists in Brazil".

Dio Coutt, born in Alvorada/RS. Graduated in business administration, gay, black, peripheral cultural producer and performance artist. In 2015 he joined the theater collective Levanta Favela. In 2017 he joined the film collective Cipó, in the production of short films. March 2020 returns to his hometown where, in a collective way, he integrates and creates cultural movements such as Parque da Solidariedade, O Beco das Artes, Horta Umbuntu, Artistas Aqui, in exhibition at Museu Baldio. The last performance was "O Sujeito da Incúria" (2021), dragging a pine tree from the park to the exhibition.

Franz Thomas is a student of psychology, a facilitator of transformative processes, and a fan of various kinds of sports, especially sailing. Franz has experience in socio-cultural programs. He is restless and passionate about working with people development. With the proposal of rescuing the NGO where he grew up, he founded the Navegando nas Artes initiative, which intends to integrate children/adolescents with nature through nautical experiences, in order to promote the preservation of the environment and the occupation of public spaces with leisure activities and graffiti art.
 

Vitória Leona (br. 1998) is a photographer born in Belém do Pará. She works with portraits, where celebrates the diversity of the Brazilian people and records human expression with great transparency, using vivid colors that refer to the Amazon, and wanders between analogical and digital to record the streets digital to record the streets and the bodies that pass by her.
Leona had her first international exhibition in London in 2017. After living in the southeast, from 2018 to 2020, she began to focus on fashion photography and worked with brands such as Nike, Converse and Adidas. Since then, she has been considered by Vogue Brazil and FFW as one of the leading photographers in the Amazon region and part of the future generation of women photographers by the Malala Fund.