Happiness and Resistance, 2023

printed fabric, cotton

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with assistance from The Fundação Nacional de Artes. Courtesy of the artist.

Commanches do Pelô, 2014

Malê Debalê, 2020

Afoxé Children of Gandhy, 2019

Cortejo Afro (Afro Procession), 2015

A Song of Afoxé for Gilberto Gil (Afro Procession Series), 2017

Replacement Pai Burukô Carnival, 2013

Zambiã, 2014

Capoeira Block (Afrology, Tradition and Memory), 2015

Capoeira Viva Bahia Block Emilia Biancardi, 2018

The Eyes of Xangô (Afro Procession Series), 2014

Oxumare (Afro Procession Series), 2020

Afoxé Sons of Congo Nelson Maleiro, 2020

printed fabric, cotton

Courtesy the artist.

Muzenza, 1992

Afoxé Sons of Kori Efan, 2012

printed fabric, cotton

Courtesy the artist

Lucas Batatinha, Afro Os Block Negões, 2015

printed fabric

Du Ray, Department, 2014

printed fabric

Presentation at the 24th Biennale of Sydney was made possible with assistance from The Fundação Nacional de Artes. Courtesy Alberto Pitta Archive.

In the mid-1500s, Portuguese colonisers, realising the Bahia region of Brazil was not rich in gold and silver, set up largescale sugar plantations. The Indigenous population was initially enslaved to work these new agricultural centres, but as production increased so too did demand for labour and the import of African slaves began. Between 1540 and the 1860s, around 5.5 million African slaves were brought to Brazil and, with them, a variety of new stories, beliefs and traditions.

In modern times, descendants of these populations perform song and dance in Afro blocs – street bands – as part of Salvador’s infamous Carnivale. For 40 years, Alberto Pitta has been dedicated to the research and creation of prints, costumes, props and allegories that characterise these groups. One of the first artists to create what is now known as Afro-Bahian print, he uses the symbols and ornaments of orishas (spirits) from West African religions as a source of inspiration.

Alberto Pitta is a visual and carnival artist. For 40 years he has been dedicated to developing research work and artistic creations that explore Afro-Bahian prints. Pitta is one of the pioneers of these prints, where symbols, tools, clothing and ornaments of the orishas (deities from a Western African religion known as Candomblé) are a source of inspiration. Music and dance are important parts of Candomblé ceremonies and meetings, as Candomblé practice favours and encourages artistic creation, and this is a large source of inspiration for the codes and symbols within Pitta‘s works. Pitta‘s paintings, drawings, fabrics, clothes, objects and serigraphs are visual testimonies of a ‘contemporary ancestry’, infused with the rhythms, shapes, colours and symbols of Afro-Brazilian cults and Carnival in Bahia. 

Read more about the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, by purchasing the catalogue here.