São Paulo – Brazilian duo Tereza de Quinta e Robézio Marques (pictured above), who make up the duo Acidum Project, are in Lebanon for an art itinerary. Their main work in the Arab country was developed in partnership with Lebanese artist RenoZ. The huge 540-square-meter mural was unveiled on July 30 and is located in the neighborhood of Hamra in the capital city of Beirut.
The work has been planned for months and was produced by the three artists in nine days. The project was organized by Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center (Brasiliban) in partnership with Art Of Change, a collective founded by Imane Assaf and Jason Camp that brings together Lebanese artists and holds several cultural activities in the Hamra neighborhood.
Born in Fortaleza in the state of Ceará, Quina and Marques came onto Lebanese ground for the first time. “It has been an amazingly positive experience. It’s unbelievable how the warm side of people here is similar to Brazil’s. Especially considering the several situations, dramas, hardships and crises that we have gone through, too. They’re a very strong, resilient people,” Marques said.
The welcoming reception made them relate the country with the Brazilian region they came from, the Northeast. The artists stressed the warmth of the Lebanese people and diverse geography. “The relation with the city struck us. Mountains, beaches – there’re very different environments. It is not snowing now, but [at other times of the year] some mountains are covered in snow. The cuisine, too. It’s rare to find Lebanese food in Fortaleza, and now we don’t want to stop eating it as it’s very good. Then we traveled the whole city. We know that it’s going through a difficult time – the blast was a year ago, so Beirut is still rebuilding from it, and there are the economic crises, too, but you can see they’re a people that can party and find joy,” Quinta added.
Brazil-Lebanon mural
The mural painted by the Brazilian and Lebanese artists honors the friendship ties between the two nations. The result can now be seen in the Arab country and, according to the organizers, is one of the largest murals in Lebanon. The project also celebrates the 10th anniversary of Brasiliban, which is part of Brazil’s embassy in Beirut and aims to promote the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture.
The institution posted a video on its social media of the mural launching ceremony. “I believe this is the message of hope we all need,” Brazil’s ambassador to Beirut, Hermano Telles Ribeiro, said at the occasion.
For the work in Beirut, the artists of the Acidum Project set out to research the local scene and retrieve the essence of Brazil they wanted to show. “We have a very big responsibility. We painted a woman that, for us, represents a Brazilian from the Northeast region. They have even asked, ‘Is she really a Brazilian? She looks Lebanese.” And I said, ‘That’s the point!’ We wanted to break the stereotype of the Brazilian woman that is usually associated with sexiness. We wanted to paint someone that looked like our mother, someone from our Brazil, the Northeast, who’s like any other woman from across the world. We wanted to put in that maternal vibe. We wanted to show this side, as the image of Brazil has to speak for who we are: A country that’s connected to dialectics, harmony, balance,” Marques pointed out.
RenoZ, the Lebanese who worked together with the Brazilians, is a multidisciplinary artist based in Beirut and has exhibited in collective shows across Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East. In addition to artworks in galleries, he authored another large-scale mural, also located in the neighborhood of Hamra, and was developed in partnership with Art of Change.
Acidum Project is slanted to develop other works in Lebanon, including a painting to be made in the Beqaa Valley. Following the experience in the Levant country, the duo will do an itinerary in Egypt with the support of Brazil’s Embassy of Egypt in Cairo.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda & Elúsio Brasileiro
