Between land and sea, the mangrove forest is a place of transition. From Oiapoque, in Amapá, to Laguna, in Santa Catarina, mangroves can be found almost all along the Brazilian coast. This ecosystem shelters life forms that thrive amidst instability, and its importance is tremendous, as it protects the coast from erosion and extreme weather events.
Now, the mangrove swamp has become a starting point for reflection on the interdependencies between humans, nature, and culture in the exhibition. Mangrove, currently on display at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Rio de Janeiro (CCBB RJ), curated by Marcelo Campos, a researcher of Brazilian identities with a solid career in contemporary art.
The exhibition is based on the book of the same name by Andrea Jakobsson, and proposes a look at the mangrove swamp as a metaphor for art and for the Brazilian experience itself: an environment of mixture, reinvention, and survival. In an interview with arte!brasileirosThe curator revealed that the idea of dedicating an entire exhibition to mangroves was very satisfying, as it was possible to bring together artists from different eras and artistic languages: “Mangroves have been present in Brazilian art at various times. From modernist artists like Abelardo da Hora and Lasar Segall, to contemporary artists like Uýra Sodoma, and even the Rio Carnival,” Campos explains.
At the Rio Art Museum, where Campos is chief curator, he has been working on collaborative curatorial projects. Curatorship is seen as one element of an exhibition, not the only element: “With this, we have been working with specialists who give us information on the subjects that we transform into lists of works, ideas, and images.” The same process occurred during the research for… Mango.
Upon delving into this universe, Campos came across the information that Brazil is one of the most important places on the planet when it comes to mangroves. “This place promotes a change in climate: it cools the hot climate, it facilitates the transfer of fresh water to salt water. These are incredible and incredibly rich things,” he points out. However, the curator laments that the mangrove forest still suffers from the popular confusion between mangroves and sewage.
The curator made a point of including artists who had already approached the theme at crucial moments in Brazilian art, such as the modernist Celeida Tostes. At the time she taught at UFRJ, clay was extracted from the edge of the mangroves of Guanabara Bay, an act that is impossible today due to pollution.
In contemporary art, the works of Uýra Sodoma and the commissioned work of Azizi Cypriano stand out. Azizi, for example, produced a performance and photographs that focus on the transmission of knowledge.
Azizi Cypriano and the work Movimento-grafia
The work of Azizi Cypriano, entitled Movement-graphy 10This is an original work, commissioned for the exhibition, that delves into the relationship between the body, writing, and the mangrove territory. The artist, who is developing the research... Movement-graphy since 2019, which relates writing to mud, inspired by the text From my mother's handwriting and drawingsConceição Evaristo found a sacred territory in the mangrove swamp. "The mangrove swamp is a very mysterious geography; not everyone can access it because it's not like a waterfall, which, although also very spiritual and powerful, is accessible with relative ease."
Azizi recounts that the invitation to the exhibition was preceded by an immersion in Guanabara Bay, alongside the Guardians of the Sea group. However, the turning point for the creation of the work was the encounter with the Quilombo do Feital community, made up of crab fishermen, and, in particular, with the artisan Dona Almirena, who works with the straw of the cattail collected in the mangrove, and her daughter, Val Quilombola, a leader of the quilombo.
“I think the first thing I realize with Quilombo do Feital is this arrival in a territory that, without them, I could never have known in the way I did. Every time we go into the mangrove swamp, we need to ask permission,” he explains.
Azizi's performance was only possible because of this deep relationship with the community, which welcomed her and taught her how to "arrive" in the mangrove. The artist describes that, upon entering the mangrove swamp, her body bends, as it is a place that demands slowness and respect: "I needed to understand, along with spirituality, that entering the mangrove is like learning to crawl: you step slowly, getting to know and feeling new textures for the first time."
The artist incorporated two trunks from the mangrove swamp itself into the work, a material that, according to her, has a very distinct property and that today can only be accessed by those who enter the mangrove, since its exploitation is regulated.
The work also includes three photographs in collaboration with photographer Laryssa Machada, entitled Preventing erosionThe work is an invitation to reconnect with ancestral figures and teachings in order to preserve the dignity of existence and avoid "wear and tear, the disappearance of life."
The Mangrove in Carnival and on the global agenda
The exhibition also celebrates the strong presence of mangroves in popular cultural expressions. An installation by Gabriel Haddad and Leonardo Bora, carnival designers from Grande Rio, features elements from the 2025 float, inspired by the Caruanas, mythological beings from the Amazon that inhabit the mangroves.
Grande Rio's theme for 2026 will be "The Nation of the Mangrove," created by Antônio Gonzaga, who, in the exhibition, displays prototypes of never-before-seen costumes, reinforcing the union between popular culture, art, and the environment.
With the exhibition coinciding with the eve of COP 30, Marcelo Campos reflects on the role of art in raising environmental awareness. For him, the symbolic power of art is immediate: “When you look at the aerial roots of a mangrove swamp, you immediately imagine that you don't want to take a machete and destroy it. You don't want to pollute that transparent river, right? I keep thinking that our role in art is to say: look, this is so powerful, we have this symbolic power of the sublime, of beauty, of culture, of music production, everything comes from this place, the Manguebeat movement itself. So, why would we destroy it? So, I imagine that at this moment, with these cultural events, we need to respond with the power of the symbolic.”
“Manguezal” will be on display at CCBB RJ until February 02, 2026, with free admission.
