Neide Sá with her work 'Transparency', 1968.

The last book by journalist and novelist Edgard Telles Ribeiro, Uma Mulher Transparent, released this year by However, traces the marks that the military dictatorship in Brazil leaves in the life of Gilda, a sphinx-like woman. In real life, the artist from Rio de Janeiro Neide Sá, born in 1940, does not resemble the character with her noir elegance. When the artist began to produce her pieces, in the mid-60s – and marked by the Poema-Processo movement (read text about the movement’s book here), of which she stands out as one of the founders –, it cannot be denied that the artist transposes her gaze on the country’s political moment.

These are Neide’s works that emphasize his connection with three Ps – politics, poetics and words –, which are now on display in radical women, at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, and in Arte-Veículo, at Sesc Pompeia.

Until recently, they were also part of Epoetic structure, rupture and resistance, his first solo show at Galeria Superfície. The visual artist and gallery director, Gustavo Nóbrega, had no doubts that Neide was an artist who deserved substantial redemption. Since he began to represent her, he has been committed to inserting her in major exhibitions.

1967-2010 version of A Corda, exhibited in a solo exhibition by the artist at Galeria Superfície.

In the case of Mulheres Radicais, he says, curators Andrea Giunta and Cecilia Fajardo had already appeared at the artist's house to invite her to be part of the exhibition and research works. Neide, however, did not know where the work was, which in this case would be Wake up.

“There were works that she didn't even remember existed and we found them in a warehouse at her house”, says the gallery owner. Among the works found during his research for the exhibition in honor of the 50th anniversary of Poema-Processo last year, which resulted in a book, was the work conceived by the curators, who were promptly contacted by him.

During the military dictatorship, the work – made up of preachers/clips, collages of journalistic prints and a rope – was exposed on the street so that people could preach to their colleagues, as if on a clothesline. “The police even kidnapped her work a few times, but they didn't kidnap the artist because they didn't know who she was”, says Nóbrega. Another version of the work was exhibited at the gallery and, now, another is part of the exhibition at Sesc, an exhibition that brings together works by artists who carry out media interventions.

The work A corda', by Neide Sá, in its 1967 version.

Another work by the artist that demonstrates her position in an eminent way is Transparências (1968). Three acrylic cubes in different proportions, placed one inside the other, with adhesive vinyls glued to the letters. Depending on the perspective from which it is observed, words such as 'War' and 'Peace', in addition to onomatopoeic formations that refer to sounds of battles, are perceived: “In coding the word, they [Neide and the Poema-Processo] were able to convey messages that the military regime did not understand”, points out Gustavo. He explains that Neide was an artist who caught his attention in this research path on the movement because, in addition to being the only woman active in the avant-garde group, she had a very large production both at that time and later.

Neide is transparent because, in her artistic work, she communicates in an open and determined way. Through the skillful use of semiotics and the construction of her visual poems, she instigates the public, which becomes an interlocutor in the experience of contact with the artist's production.


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