February 28- April 8, 2018
The title of Rosana Paulino’s exhibition, Assentamento, does not perfectly translate into English. The best English counterpart is “settlement” because “assentamento” does indicate the process of settling down or making a home. An additional meaning, however, is not captured in the English: “assentamento” also indicates the sacred practice of summoning an entity in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. The artist uses both meanings to examine the forced relocation of West Africans to Brazil. In her installation, and elsewhere in her works on paper, the artist refers to the colonial practice of the slave trade to problematize the discourse of domination that was normalized by scientific theories in the 19th century.
