Art is cure

Nesta fotografia, a escultura está à direita, vista do busto para cima. O corpo dela é de papel marrom claro. Ela tem cabelos azuis com detalhes em vermelho, liso, na altura dos ombros, olhos castanhos, nariz fino e lábios vermelhos, grossos. Usa uma blusa do mesmo tom da pele, com detalhe vermelho no peito, ladeado por formas de pássaros pretos e gola vermelha. A escultura está à frente de uma grande planta à esquerda de uma pilastra de tijolinhos marrons.

Silza está ajoelhada entre Helane, à esquerda e a escultura, à direita. Helane e a escultura estão sentadas em cadeiras de rodas. A de Helane é vermelha e a da escultura é cor laranja. Helane é branca. Cabelo curto, liso, preto, olhos castanhos escuros, nariz e lábios finos. Ela usa camiseta de malha e bermuda pretas e um colar colorido, com enfeites brancos, lilás, vermelho e verde. Silza é branca, cabelos longos, castanhos, levemente ondulados. Ela usa macacão cor de vinho sobre camiseta preta. Atrás dela, um globo colorido sobre uma haste de madeira, envolto em dois colares como o que Helane e a escultura usam. Com o braço direito apoiado na cadeira, Helane sorri, com a mão esquerda sobre a cabeça de Silza, que esboça um largo sorriso. A escultura está com as mãos sobre as coxas e uma peça artesanal pintada com um gato preto e branco. Ao fundo, uma parede de pedras cinza, com parte de uma árvore à esquerda e pequenos arbustos à direita.

Nesta fotografia, Helane está à esquerda da escultura, ambas vistas da cintura para cima, encostadas em uma parede de pedras cinza. A escultura é mais alta que Helane e usa um colar como o dela, pendurado do ombro direito para a cintura. Helane e a escultura estão com os braços ao longo do corpo. Helane está com a cabeça inclinada para a direita, pressionando o lábio inferior com os dentes.

Art can heal the planet. Art, Nurture, and Cure; these are the words that inspired this text. Our duo participates in the project Portraits of Brazil with Disability, with a great challenge: to show the possibilities of art as nourishing and healing, necessary to wellbeing. Contributing towards the formation of better beings who have integrity, are just, and respectful to the earth, the air, the fire, the water, the plants, the animals, the springs, the lakes, the rivers, and the oceans. We believe that by preserving ecosystems and biodiversity, we are consequently respecting and valuing ourselves and people with disabilities. This principle was reflected in the realization of this work, through the choice of recycled materials, selection of products that are non-aggressive to the environment and, above all, by the conception and aesthetic presentation of the finalized work.

Silza Freire

Co-creation: Helane Alencar and Silza Freire

Technique: Papier sculpture

Year: 2021

Original Size: 1,70m - 5kg (doll) and 65mm diameter (globe)

Brasília - Federal District and Chapada dos Veadeiros - Goiás | Brazil

Helane Alencar The artist Helane de Alencar loves what she does: art as a form of expression and identity affirmation. Born in Belém do Pará, Brazil, on June 20, 1983, she had difficulties swallowing and presented signs of hypotonia of the limbs within her first days of life. Diagnosed with neonatal neurological damage (cerebral palsy), she found in her adoptive mother, Elienai Alencar, the heart of unconditional love and the mind of a doctor who spared no effort to support Helane's development and ensure her life. With this maternal support, Helane developed autonomy through physical therapy and integrative medicine, so that she learned to get around with the help of a wheelchair and to lift cutlery with her right hand. The left side of her body hardly responds to the commands from her brain, and despite physical, mental, and speech difficulties, Helane de Alencar found in art her form of expression and dialogue with the world; performing circus arts, visual arts, and musical art activities. (Text written by Elienai Alencar)

Silza Freire is an artist, costume designer, and creator. She started her artistic career in a self-taught way in 1990. She studied Fashion Design at AD1 Technology College, and taught courses and workshops. For almost three decades, her work has exposed and affirmed, in a creative and didactic way, the dissemination of environmental awareness through art that can heal and culture that educates. Her creative impulse reaches multiple areas of artistic creation such as: public installations, performance interventions, the creation of elaborate costumes, set design, and exhibitions. Currently she is the Director of, and responsible for, the Espaço Ecologia Viva (Living Ecology Space). "I am a native of the Milky Way, born on planet Earth. Thus, I identify myself as a planetary citizen.".