Video Room: Manauara Clandestina Manauara Clandestina

The audiovisual installation by the artist Manauara Clandestina (Manaus, AM, 1992) explores themes such as transvestite identity, intimate relationships, fashion and migratory flows. The artist, who expresses her Amazonian origin and clandestine experience in her own name, praises the creativity of the transvestite community in the Global South in her work, breaking with the normativity that often limits the group to the representation of their vulnerability. “Transvestites have everything to do with fashion and cinema. I want to make more films and see more self-respecting transvestites in their roles; not only as actresses, but also as directors and photographers who create our imaginary of Brazil and our daily lives,” says Manauara.

The various works presented in the video room explore the concept of upcycling. Although it originated in fashion as a response to fast fashion, upcycling – the process of reusing objects, clothing, and other materials to create something new – is present in Manauara’s work, both in her clothing and in the editing of her videos, which mix captured images with others from different locations. Iconic snippets, such as the recording of man’s first step on the moon, are juxtaposed with scenes from the artist’s daily life, creating a visual dialogue that reinvents the imaginary of transvestites in the social sphere.

Curated by Leandro Muniz, Assistant Curator, MASP, the exhibition brings together works that deal with issues such as the artist’s own biography, transvestility, the climate crisis, the condition of manual laborers, religions, economic inequalities, violence, intimacy and affection, proposing connections between these various themes in a narrative and fragmented way.

Manauara Clandestina concludes the Video Room’s annual program as part of the LGBTQIA+ Histories cycle at MASP. Throughout the year, works by Masi Mamani/Bartolina Xixa, Tourmaline, Ventura Profana, Kang Seung Lee and Manauara Clandestina have been presented.