Melvin Edwards is included in the group exhibition Ancestral: Afro-Américas at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte in Brazil, on view from March 8–May 12, 2025.
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte's press release follows:
Between March 8th and May 12th , CCBB BH will host the exhibition “Ancestral: Afro-Americas ” , which celebrates the connections between African heritage and contemporary art in Brazil and the Americas, highlighting ancestry as a great source of artistic creativity.
Bringing together more than 130 works, the exhibition is curated by Ana Beatriz Almeida and Renato Araújo da Silva, with Marcello Dantas as artistic director. For the season in Belo Horizonte, the exhibition features a new section called "Traditional African Art", which pays homage to the continent where humanity originated, featuring objects that in other historical moments had spiritual, social or utilitarian functions, highlighting the strength of traditions and cultural and technological innovations transmitted over time.
With an organic expography, the exhibition offers reflections on the affirmation of the body, the oneiric dimension of dreams and the claim to space. Through these three axes – body, dream and space – "Ancestral: Afro-Americas" promotes an encounter that values the Afro-descendant identity and decolonial art. The exhibition not only pays homage to artists who challenged the brutalities and erasure of colonialism, but also seeks to foster an open dialogue on the impact and relevance of ancestral African roots in their formation and in their social contexts.
The exhibition features new works by Brazilians Gabriella Marinho and Gê Viana, and American Simone Leigh, who is bringing a new work from her personal collection. Born in Chicago, the internationally recognized artist is the first African-American woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale. Another American artist, Nari Ward, is bringing to the exhibition a work created in Brazil exclusively for the occasion.
Also part of the exhibition are Brazilian artist Rosana Paulino, winner of the PIPA Prize, who brings a critical look at race and identity, and Bispo do Rosário, with his embroidered cloaks and objects that transcended time and subverted the concept of beauty and madness.
