Macaúbas, BA, Brazil, 1968
Lives and works between Cachoeira and Salvador, BA, Brazil

A visual artist, curator and professor whose research focuses on elements of Afro-Brazilian culture and its connections between Africa and the diaspora in the Americas. His works take the form of installation, performance, photography and video.

Heráclito crosses the history of art and exercises an updated understanding of the spiritual condition of art in contact with ancestral forces, in connection with the invisible. Reflecting on a colonial and genocidal past, he becomes one of the most significant artists in Brazil to elaborate healing rites.

Recent solo exhibitions include “Oríkì Ìwòran”, curated by Lisette Lagnado, at Portas Vilaseca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2025); the critically acclaimed “YORÙBÁIANO” (2021-2022) at Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR and at Pinacoteca de São Paulo, both curated by Marcelo Campos and Amanda Bonam; and “Senhor dos Caminhos” (2018) at the Contemporary Art Museum (MAC – Niterói), curated by Pablo León de la Barra and Raphael Fonseca.

He has also participated in relevant group shows and art biennials in recent years, including: “35th Sao Paulo Biennial”, São Paulo, Brazil (2023), for which he developed a commissioned installation with musician Tiganá Santana; “Biennale Architettura 2023 – 18th International Architecture Exhibition – Pavilhão Brasil [ Terra ]”, curated by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares. Veneza, Itália (2023); “22nd Paiz Guatemala Art Biennial”, Cidade da Guatemala, Guatemala (2021); “Ekstase”, Kunstmuseum, Stuttgart, Germany (2018); “Biennale Arte 2017 – 57th International Art Exhibition – Viva Arte Viva. Brazil Pavilion”, curated by Christine Macel. Venice, Italy (2017); “Afro-Brazilian Contemporary Art, Europalia.Brasil”, Brussels, Belgium (2012); Luanda Triennial, Angola (2010); among others.

His works are held in major national and international institutional collections, including: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; Fundación TBA21, Madrid, Spain; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt, Germany; Raw Material Company, Dakar, Senegal; Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Associação Cultural Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; and Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil.