Biography

Marco Aurélio Damaceno is a visual artist who develops work and research in contemporary art on sculpture as an expanded field of actions of the body (the human being) in its relationship with nature (the world). He is currently developing a creative research on Capoeira Angola (a type of Afro-Brazilian martial art) as an artistic performance (social sculpture) of inverted logic. He has worked and published in the field of visual arts, focusing on the aesthetics and poetics of cultural performances of Afro-Indigenous matrices in Brazil. Marco Aurélio Damaceno holds a PhD in Visual Arts from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. 

Conexão Yemanjá (2017)

“Every year on February 2, in the Rio Vermelho neighbourhood (Salvador, Bahia), gifts are offered to the divinity Yemanjá (Iemanjá) in gratitude for fishing and the benefits its generates for the population. 
In Conexão Yemanjá (Yemajá Connection), a filmed artistic performance, the offering takes the form of a large fish made of white tissue paper on a wire structure: a gift that establishes a link between the goddess and the population, while taking care of her natural environment (the sea). The procession of the big fish is accompanied by the sound of berimbaus and songs to the goddess of the sea. During the procession, the public writes their requests and thanks on the body of the sculpture and on pieces of paper.
The procession ends when it reaches the beach, where the offering is taken out to the sea. When the fish is swallowed by the sea, the requests, wishes and thanks are dissolved and absorbed, symbolising that the gifts have been accepted by Iemanjá.”