Bel Falleiros is a Brazilian artist whose practice focuses on understanding how contemporary constructed landscapes (mis)represent the diverse layers of presence that constitute a place and how that affects those who inhabit them. In Brazil she had her first solo show at CAIXA Cultural São Paulo and first residency at the Sacatar Institute in Bahia (2014). Since arriving in the U.S., she has worked to create spaces for grounding and connecting people, stories, nature and place, at Pecos National Park, NM (2016), Burnside Farm, Detroit (2017), Santa Fe Art Institute’s Equal Justice Residency – in collaboration with Tewa Women United, NM (2018), Socrates Sculpture Park, NYC (2020), The Border Project, NYC (2021) and Panorama da Arte Brasileira, São Paulo (2022-3). She was a More Art Engaging Artist Fellow (2021) and an artist-in-residence for the Dia Teens Program (2021-2). She is the founder of the group Manas Americanas (2018-current), a gathering group that connects women and non-binary people from Latin America living in New York and working with issues of culture, immigration and identity. Since 2019, she has been an art educator at Dia:Beacon and Escuelita en Casa, a project for immigrant Latino children living in Queens, NY. Beyond her studio practice, she participates in collaborative projects across the Americas connecting art, education and autonomous thinking.
My artistic practice is driven by the relationship we establish with the land when we investigate the stories that each place can tell us. What lies underneath the layers of everyday rubble? I learned from my hometown, São Paulo, that colonization, displacement and consequent historical amnesia can create deep scars in the land and for those who inhabit it. What narratives go missing? I work to recall these forgotten stories and their imagery in drawings, photos, sculptures, installations and site-specific works.
I am interested in the symbols of the Navel, Centers, and Zeros – names given across cultures and time to sacred and foundational sites. They are essential to my work: either through creating space for community gathering (To Open the Ground, 2017, Detroit), honoring forgotten, sacred sites (Eye of the Earth, 2019, São Paulo) or working collaboratively to re-envision new monuments (America (un)known, 2020, New York) or creating meditative-symbolic spaces (To Ripple with Water, 2021-2). Physically, the material and the forms the works take are holistically related to the stories and the symbols they carry. I believe that art, when felt with the whole body, is a reminder of our intimate relationship with place, nature, and more broadly, with one another.
I’ve made works both as an artist and as an educator that offer tools to reconnect with stories in a personal and multisensorial way. Working across different social and natural landscapes, I look for the stories that unite us and can give us strengh. Every place, person, and experience is an integral piece of this collective library of stories, to be continuously updated and woven into a greater whole. The work has embraced the scale of the landscape and human body, constructing symbolic spaces for people and the land to rebound. To be closer to the land is to remember each one of us is part and participant of a broader organism: an urgent call for our unrooted times.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Ombligo-Nudo-Umbigo-Nó-Navel-Knot – Op.cit., Mexico City, Mexico
2021 To Ripple with Water – The Border Project, New York
2017 To Open The Ground – Burnside Farm, Detroit
2014 About Ruins, Memories and Monuments – Caixa Cultural São Paulo
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Árvores da América: Enraizar e Entrelaçar – Massapê Projetos, São Paulo
2023 Friend of the Artists [with Manxs Americanxs], 15th A.I.R. Biennial – A.I.R. Gallery, New York
2022 Monuments on Paper – Vitrine Gallery, Basel
2022 Sob as Cinzas, Brasa: Panorama da Arte Brasileira [Biennial] – MAM, São Paulo, Brazil
2022 ABYA YALA: Structural Origins: NY Latin American Art Triennial – Hostos College, New York
2022 Making Sense Without Consensus – Equity Gallery, New York
2021 Breathing allow us to do incredible things – The 55 Project, Miami
2021 Living Through a Pandemic – General Consulate of Brazil, NY
2021 Rooted: Art + Land – Upstate Art Weekend, New York
2021 Para Construir a Casa Enquanto se Caminha (curator and artist) – Casa Contemporânea, Brazil
2021 Shifting Sands – Chashama, New York
2021 Subversive Kin: the act of turning over – The Clemente, New York
2020-1 Monuments Now: Call and Response – Socrates Sculpture Park, NY
2020 In/Between 2020: TRANSFIGURE – NY Live Arts, New York
2019 Ficaremos Bem? – Marília Razuk Gallery, São Paulo
2019 Buen Vivir / Vivir Bien: Young Latinx Artists 24 – Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin
2019 Eco Shifters – LFDC Foundation, Switzerland
2019 Recipes for B_R_Z_L – Spring Break Art Fair, New York
2018 Water Art is the New Land Art: residency exhibition – Governors Island, New York
2017 Library of Love (organized by Sandra Cinto) – CAC, Cincinnati
2016 Learning with Dorival Caymmi “Praieira Civilization” – Tomie Ohtake Institute, São Paulo
2016 Somewhere Between the Land and the Home – Oficina Cultural Oswald Andrade, São Paulo
2016 #ImmediateAttention – Emma Thomas, São Paulo
2015 43 visions of Fuji Mountain by Contemporary Brazilian Artists – Musashino Art University, Tokyo
2015 Tendências do Livro de Artista no Brasil: 30 Anos depois – Centro Cultural São Paulo
2014 Change Utopia – Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin
2014 Intimate City – Projeto Fidalga, São Paulo
2013 .Aurora: – Ponto Aurora, São Paulo
2013 Azimute – Projeto Fidalga, São Paulo
RESIDENCIES, PRIZES and AWARDS
2023 Pipa Prize [Nominated], Brazil
2021-2 Artist-in-residence: Artist Ally for Dia Teens, Dia:Beacon Beacon, New York
2021 Hilda Hilst Institute / Casa do Sol Residency, Campinas, Brazil
2021 More Art Engaging Artist Fellow, New York
2020 Socrates Sculpture Park Artist Fellow, New York
2020 NYFA Immigrant Program, New York
2020 Ortega y Gasset – Open Call Artists to Watch, New York
2019 Massapê Projetos Resident São Paulo, Brazil
2018 Smack Mellon Art Studio Open Call Hot Picks, New York
2018 Works on Water/Underwater New York Residency Governors Island, New York
2018 AnnexB Resident, New York
2018 Santa Fe Art Institute, Equal Justice Resident Santa Fe, New Mexico
2017 Burnside Farm Resident Detroit, Michigan
2016 National Park Arts Foundation Resident Pecos, New Mexico
2015 Oficina Oswald de Andrade (collective residency) São Paulo, Brazil
2014-6 State Prize and Grant for Independent Art Spaces (for .Aurora) São Paulo, Brazil
2014 Centro Cultural São Paulo Residency Prize at Sacatar Institute Bahia, Brazil
2013-4 CAIXA Cultural Federal Prize for artist solo show São Paulo, Brazil
2007 Graduation Thesis selected to represent the School Nationally São Paulo, Brazil
PUBLICATIONS and REVIEWS
2022 Piauí Magazine, ‘Red country: The artist that looks for the color of brazilwood’ by Tatiane de Assis
2021 Art Spiel, An Installation to Immerse and Reconnect by Iara Pimenta
2020 Latinx Spaces: ‘America (un)known: the stout gesture for revisioning tomorrow’ by Anna Parisi
2019 Contraviento Journal (web magazine, American West) Olho da Terra [Eye of the Earth]
2018 O Globo (Newspaper, Brazil) New York open to Brazilian Talents by Claudia Calirman
2018 Shelter (Montez Press Radio at Mathew Gallery, NYC) by Erin Sweeny
2017 Arte que Acontece (website, Brazil) Aposta [artists we bet] profile by Caroline Carrion
2016 Big Blend (Radio and Magazine, U.S.A.) Interview on the To Recall the Absent
2016 Arte1 (TV Channel, Brazil) Interview at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2015 Kolaj 12 (Magazine, Montreal, Quebec) ‘Urban landscapes as acts of collage’ by Luigi Galimberti
2014 Wish (Magazine, Brazil) Profile Bel Falleiros by Gabriela Longman
2014 Elle ed. 308 (Magazine, Brazil) Hot hits ART
2014 Estado de São Paulo (Newspaper, Brazil) ‘Percursos urbanos [urban routes]’
2014 Bamboo (Magazine, Brazil) Highlights Tijuana Book Art fair
PUBLIC TALKS and OTHER ACTIVITIES
2023 Visiting Artist [Lecture and Studio Visits] – SUNY New Paltz, NY
2022 Activation of Helio Oiticica’s ‘Subterranean Tropicália PN15’ Sculpture – Socrates Sculpture Park
2022 More Art Engaging Fellows presentation – Queens Museum, New York
2021 Ceramics and Ritual presentation – Ox-Bow School of Art, Michigan
2021 Monuments Now: In Conversation – Socrates Sculpture Park
2018 Founded Manas Americanas gathering group (2018-ongoing) – AnnexB, New York
2018 Portfolio presentation at El Salón conversation series, curated by Eva Mayhabal – New Women Space, New York
2018 SFAI 140 with Kate Daughdrill at Santa Fe Art Institute – Santa Fe, New Mexico
2016 Artist talk and Guided tours at Pecos National Historical Park – Pecos, New Mexico
2014 ‘Walking out of the contemporary [museum]’ performative walk and conversation with Stalker – MAXXI Museum, Rome
2014-7 Founder, curator and administrator of the artspace .Aurora – São Paulo, Brazil
TEACHING and MENTORING
– Teaching Artist at Dia:Beacon, 2020-current
– Teaching Artist at Escuelita en Casa, Queens, NY, 2020-current
– Teaching Artist at Garner Art Center, Haverstraw, NY 2020-current
– Guest Artist at Cooper Union for Advanced Drawing Class, NY, 2021
– Teaching Artist at NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY, 2021
– Group mentoring ‘Comunidade de Afeto’ (with Renata Cruz) , Casa Contemporânea, São Paulo, Brazil, 2020-1
– Ceramics Teaching Assistant (for Anna Mayer)and guest artist speaker at Ox-Bow School of Art, Michigan, 2021
– Guest mentor for the graduate students at University of São Paulo School of Architecture, Urbanism and Design (FAU-USP), 2020
– Guest speaker for the Socially Engaged Artistry course at New School, 2020
– Workshop with the youth of Tewa Women United, Española, New Mexico, 2018
– Public Art and Land Art, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil, 2016
– Somewhere Between Earth and Home, Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade, São Paulo, 2015
– Workshop Walking as Art, in the context of About Ruins, Memories and Monuments solo show, CAIXA Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014
