São Paulo–based Afro-Brazilian artist Larissa de Souza’s vibrant paintings exude happiness. Part of a duo presentation with Michaela Younge for Albertz Benda, de Souza shows her subjects in states of relaxation and play. A woman reading to a boy, another woman riding a broomstick horse, or a girl laying on the ground watching the ballerina inside the box twirl around. She includes traditional Brazilian textiles, glitter, and candy wrappers in these mixed-media works to further add layers to these complex scenes. Inspired by the architecture of São Paulo—directly referenced in A bailarina dentro da caixa (The ballerina inside the box) with its green walls—de Souza depicts Afro-Brazilian women and girls with joy as a way to counteract stereotypes that are still prominent in Brazil.
As a self-taught artist, de Souza aims to preserve collective memories on canvas in defiance to the historical erasure of the Afro-Brazilian culture. Navigating between space, body, desire, memory, and ancestry, she uses a variety of techniques and materials in her work including collage, embroidery, resin frames, fabric, and found objects in the textured paintings that form a biography of sorts of the artist’s life.
