Elian Almeida bases his practice on the convergence of different languages, such as painting, photography, video and installation, becoming an exponent of a new generation of artists who produce objects and images that claim protagonism for agents and bodies usually marginalized in our society and in the art tradition. With a decolonial approach, his work discusses the experience and performativity of the black body in contemporary society. For this, he recovers elements from the past, images, narratives and characters – official and unofficial – in order to contribute to the strengthening and dissemination of Afro-Brazilian historiography.
When developing his research in the face of the biographies of characters and elements of Afro-Brazilian culture that had their importance erased by history, the artist seeks to attribute their value and sociocultural impact. Elian expands his poetic and pictorial repertoire, revisits the notions of privilege present in Brazilian culture and society and denounces the myth of racial democracy.
In his Vogue series, in which Almeida appropriates the visual identity and aesthetics of this famous fashion magazine to link black bodies, we see the convergence of these different lines of work, leading us to question how these subjects are represented and put into circulation in Brazilian visual culture.
Elian Almeida lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His first individual Antes – agora – o que há de vir, took place at Nara Roesler (2021), in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. His works were present in several collectives, among them: Atos de Revolta, at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio) (2022), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Crônicas Cariocas, at the Museum of Arte do Rio (MAR) (2021), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Enciclopédia Negra, at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2021), in São Paulo, Brazil; and in the Museum of Arte do Rio (MAR) (2022), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Amanhã há de ser outro dia / Demains sera um autre jour, at Studio Iván Argote and at Espacio Temporal (2020), in Paris, France; Esqueleto – 70 years of UERJ, at Paço Imperial (2019), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Arte naïf – Nenhum museu a menos, at Parque Lage School of Visual Arts (EAV Parque Lage) (2019), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mostra memórias da resistência, at the Municipal Center of Arte Hélio Oiticica (CMAHO) (2018), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Bela verão and Transnômade Opavivará, at Galpão Bela Maré (2018), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Novas poéticas – diálogos expandidos na arte contemporânea, at the Museum of the Future (2016), in Curitiba, Brazil; among others. His work integrates the collection of the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
