Artist Registry
The White Columns Curated Artist Registry is an online platform for emerging and under-recognized artists to share images and information about their respective practices. The Registry seeks to create a context for artists who have yet to benefit from wider critical, curatorial or commercial support. To be eligible, artists cannot be affiliated with a commercial gallery in New York City.
To apply to the Registry, click here. Join our mailing list here to receive our open call announcement and other programming updates. For any further questions about the Registry, please contact us at registry@whitecolumns.org.
STATEMENT OF WORK
Walking along Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro with my Tia, I noticed an offering of fresh flowers and champagne perfectly arranged in the wet sand. Captivated by its beauty, I reached out to touch it, but she stopped me, saying it was for Iemanjá, the goddess of water and gently reminded me, "peça licença" meaning "ask for permission” when passing by. This moment transformed the way I see objects, revealing their potential as sacred relics filled with meaning. My work examines objects as relics, blending my experiences as a queer artist of both American and Brazilian descent raised in New York City. I explore the idea of camouflage through queerness and spirituality in spaces like barbershops, beauty salons, and queer hanky code—places where identity is simultaneously hidden and revealed.Through the tactile process of mosaic-making, I combine symbols of American culture with Catholic saints, Afro-Brazilian deities, and comic books to explore their duality. These elements interact as a form of syncretism- a blending of different beliefs. By integrating simple materials and transforming them into unique compositions, they become hybrid objects where all of my worlds intersect, creating my own mythology.