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

Heráclito is a visual artist, curator, and professor whose research focuses on Afro-Brazilian cultural elements and their connections to Africa and the African diaspora across the Americas. His multidisciplinary practice encompasses installation, performance, photography, and video. Engaging deeply with art history, he articulates a contemporary understanding of art’s spiritual dimension, drawing on ancestral forces and exploring its relationship to the invisible.

Selected solo shows and biennials: Oríkì Ìwòran, curated by Lisette Lagnado, Portas Vilaseca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2025); Bienal Internacional de Arte de Antioquia y Medellín, Colombia (2025); 15th Bienal de La Habana, Cuba (2025); 35th Sao Paulo Biennial, curated by Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes and Manuel Borja-Villel, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Biennale Architettura 2023 – 18th International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares, Venice, Italy (2023); Yorùbáiano, curated by Marcelo Campos and Amanda Bonam, Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR, Rio de Janeiro and Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2021-2022); 22nd Paiz Guatemala Art Biennial, City of Guatemala, Guatemala (2021); and Senhor dos Caminhos, curated by Pablo León de la Barra and Raphael Fonseca, MAC – Niterói, RJ, Brazil (2018); and the 57th Venice Biennale – Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel, Venice, Italy (2017).

Heráclito has also participated in relevant group shows in recent years, including: Spiritual Form, El Museo del Barrio, New York, USA (2025); The Ecologies of Peace II, TBA21 + Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Spain (2025); After the End of the World: Pictures from Panafrica, Art Institute Of Chicago, USA (2025); Histórias LGBTQIA+, MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2024-2025); among others.

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

He holds a PhD in Communication and Semiotics from PUC-SP and is a professor at the Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia, in the city of Cachoeira, BA, Brazil. He is also an Ogã Sojatin (a master in the Jeje nation) of a Jeje Mahi Humpame (a temple devoted to the Voduns of the Jeje Mahi lineage of Candomblé) in the city of Salvador, BA, Brazil.