São Paulo – Portraits of peasants, militants, menial workers, refugees, lawyers, artists, nomads, models, teachers, businesswoman and others exemplify the strength of contemporary women, notwithstanding their physical appearance, nationality, ethnic origin or religion. Exhibition “Women of the Planet,” by French artist Titouan Lamazou, is going to occupy the entire Oca, in the Ibirapuera Park, in the city of São Paulo, as part of the programme for the French Year in Brazil, which was officially inaugurated on April 21st. The exhibition will be open for visitation from May 11th to July 11th.
With a budget of 2 million Brazilian reals (US$ 894.854) the exhibition is going to present a selection of 200 profiles (using photographs, paintings, drawings and videos) and accounts (in the words of the women, obtained through a questionnaire and texts written by the artist) gathered over the course of seven years of trips across the five continents.
Among the women, there are 19 Brazilians who were photographed in 2004, when the artist took a four-month trip to the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Tocantins and Minas Gerais. The exhibition also displays several Arab women, be they in Mauritania or in the occupied territories in Palestine.
The exhibition arrives in the country after having remained on display from October 2007 until June 2008 at the Museum of Humanity (Palais de Chaillon) in Paris, with a record attendance of 230,000 visitors. One of the most visited exhibitions in France that year by a living artist, it now features in Brazil in an expanded mode, with approximately 3,000 works and 50 films, occupying the 6,000 square metres of the Oca.
In its first time outside of France, the exhibition has been especially prepared by the artist for the Oca premises, with design by Vincent Beaurin and Lamazou, to harmonize with Oscar Niemeyer’s architecture.
The women are identified by the first name and locality alone, with no hierarchies or differences.
Born in Casablanca
A descendant of French, Titouan Lamazou was born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1955, and at age 11 he decided to pursue a career in art. At 17 years of age he was admitted into the School of Arts of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence, France, however, another of his passions, sailing, soon led his talent and creativity into other fields. It was then that he took his first transatlantic trip, combining art, sailing and travelling in an original and unique manner.
In 1991, Lamazou won the world maritime racing championship. Afterwards, the artist realized that he had enough maturity to publish travel diaries by France’s largest publishing house, Gallimard. In 2001, Titouan decided to dedicate his life to the “Women of the World” project.
Service
Exhibition “Women of the Planet,” by Titouan Lamazou
Date: May 11th to July 11th
Place: Oca –Lucas Nogueira Garcez Pavilion – Ibirapuera Park
Address: Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n, Gate 3 – São Paulo
Time: from 10:00 am to 08:00 pm
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
