Mar (1987) is a multilingual artist from Salvador, son of Dona Marlene (in memoriam), father of Sofia (a young artist), and the youngest Akin (who establishes a new history). Born on Triângulo Street, in the Coqueirinho neighborhood behind the coast of Itapuã, in the city of Salvador, in an unchanged time. PhD student in the Visual Arts Program - PPGAV, at the School of Fine Arts - EBA, of the Federal University of Bahia - UFBA. He researches and produces contemporary visual arts, dedicating himself to understanding concepts of social memory, place and otherness, time and forgetfulness, and the survival relationships dedicated to vulnerable social groups. His work starts from an intriguing autobiography.
How would you describe your artistic style?
I have produced in several creative languages and this has given me experience in approaching production processes. The concept of multilanguage is what most appeals to me, as it provides me with the relationship between research and production in a more horizontal environment for displaying my work.
What themes do you prefer to explore in your works?
I start from an autobiographical and social memory relationship, but I open these fields to intersect aspects of otherness, erasure and survival, when directed to more emerging issues, regarding minorities in society. And this is already quite broad, but each work is interconnected and I believe that this investigation needs to advance and expand to deeper levels of understanding, therefore, the research expands and opens new sources of communication and artistic production.
What is your creative process like?
Research is the basis for the exercise of my process, materiality and image are central to this work, but I leave room for creative and poetic writing, which expands and takes up space in works. The exhibitions I do are like tests/works, you don't know the beginning, middle and new beginnings... I like this game of possibilities.
What materials and techniques do you use most often?
I am currently studying glass, clay, objects, photography, poetry and the process table as a material field and of technical appropriation. For each production session there is an inherent skill, it is a constant learning process in a work that is completely remodeled many times, I do not like the idea of error, but of process, connections and intuitive possibilities.
What is the role of the artist in today's society?
There is a personal dimension to this, and for me it is questioning my own history and memory, and then knowing how to pose these questions to the public, confronting them in a frank and bold way. I do not believe in the art of contemplation alone, but of the work as elements of communication, expansion of languages and survival, not in its materiality, but in its understanding.
Have you participated in any notable exhibitions that you would like to share?
I like to remember the relationships I have with some friends and spaces in Mexico. I have been active in art for three periods, 2015 - 2017 and 2024, and I always learn from the friends I have there, from the city and from the questions they raise about historiographies and ancestry in the cultural construction of the nation. On my last visit, I presented a solo exhibition at the Museo Regional de Puebla, in the city of Puebla - ME, a place under the direction of INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History). The emotion is latent for being surrounded by so many historical sessions and memories of the place and the country, my work placed side by side, in an unfolding of time/place and possibilities.
