Manifest Gesture – Ìyá, Queen of Samba, 2026
The intention of Gesto Manifesto – Ìyá Rainha do Samba (Manifest Gesture – Ìyá, Queen of Samba) is to manifest the role women play in the creation of samba and Carnival, which has so often been silenced or erased. Through the figure of the baiana (Bahian woman, a symbol of Afro-Brazilian heritage), the work evokes the matriarchs of samba, the yalorixás: women who turned the collective spaces of the terreiros (religious centres) into territories of refuge, creation and resistance.
The empowering words that cover the sculpture’s head and face celebrate female power, while her belly invites the public to an experience of listening and contact. The crown the baiana holds in her hands symbolises a power that does not impose itself, but welcomes and celebrates.