Paulo Nazareth - Patuá/Patois

Paulo Nazareth (Brazil) is an artist who creates as he walks. With his self-styled Arte de Preceito (precept art), his artistic practice is rooted in radical displacement and movement, such as crossing borders on foot. His work confronts the interplay of memory, language, and ritual in communities shaped by Afro-Brazilian, Indigenous, and anti-colonial struggles.

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With Patuá/Patois, Paulo Nazareth presents a comprehensive retrospective at WIELS, highlighting more than two decades of artistic practice. The exhibition explores two powerful symbols of survival and resilience: patois, a nonstandard dialect spoken by marginalized communities, and patuá, an Afro-Brazilian amulet symbolizing protection and remembrance. Through these symbols, he investigates how language and objects can serve as tools for survival, particularly for those displaced by colonial histories and global migration. 

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Nazareth transforms movement into an act of resistance, bearing witness to the lives of the forgotten and the silenced. Through the artworks presented at WIELS, Nazareth critically addresses Brussels’ vanishing local dialect, its complex linguistic divides, and its fraught relationship with immigration.

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As a significant act of resistance, Paulo Nazareth will not physically come to Brussels for this exhibition. He has made a personal commitment not to set foot in Europe until he has first visited all the countries in Africa, honouring the continent that has deeply influenced his work and identity. This refusal to enter Europe reflects Nazareth's critique of colonial histories and the power dynamics between the Global North and South.