São Paulo – Brazilian artist Zana Azeredo will have her paintings exhibited at the Dubai Calligraphy Biennale from this Sunday (1) until the end of October in Building 6 of the Dubai Design District in the United Arab Emirates. A local resident, Azeredo was selected to participate through a Dubai Arts and Culture Authority notice.
She integrates the exhibition with a diptych – two interconnected paintings – with excerpts from the Brazilian song “O Descobridor dos Sete Mares” by Michel Gilson Mendonça and Tim Maia, written in modern graffiti-style Arabic calligraphy and imagery inspired by the song lyrics. The work made in acrylic on printed canvas shows images of goldfish on a blue and ocher background. The colors represent the sea and beaches that the lyrics mention.
The diptych is part of Azeredo’s Fusion collection (in the opening pictures, the artist with pieces from the collection). The canvases, such as the one to be exhibited at the Biennale, feature Arabic calligraphy and are inspired by Brazilian songs by artists such as Tiago Iorc, Ivete Sangalo, Adriana Calcanhotto, Caetano Veloso and Geraldo Azevedo. The works are made in acrylic on oil and aim to transcend the essence of poetry into a visual manifestation, capturing the meaning, rhythm, and depth of words and transposing them into painting.
The artist described her Fusion collection as a celebration of cultures. The blend of music, poetry and painting with Brazilian song lyrics in Arabic calligraphy aims to create a mix between the Latin and Arab worlds. Azeredo said she chose songs as eclectic as the world we live in today, and the criteria for selecting them was that the poetry of their lyrics “must touch our souls.”
Azeredo has lived in the UAE for 14 years. She started her creations at age ten and evolved to oil-paint portraits in her early 20s. When she lived in London and studied the Arabic language, she fell in love with calligraphy. Azeredo ventured into creating calligraphy with India ink and bamboo pens in a traditional Arabic style. She trained with artists from the UK, UAE and Egypt. Her style evolved to incorporate greater use of colors and different formats, such as acrylic on oil or printed canvas.
A poet and novelist, she brought words and writing to her work as a visual artist, fusing poetry, painting and calligraphy. Azeredo said she is passionate about words, meanings and the lyricism of language. Last year, the Brazilian was selected for a development program for new writers living in the UAE and the Gulf region.
For more information on the Dubai Calligraphy Biennale, click here.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
