In his first solo exhibition at Portas Vilaseca – “Oríkì Ìwòran ” – Brazilian artist Ayrson Heráclito (Macaúbas, Bahia, 1968) presents a powerful body of work – some pieces created especially for the exhibition – exploring the notion of ebó-art or offering-art, expanding the practice of contemplation into a becoming-ritual.
Continuing the sensorial experience of immersive environments that marked his participation in the 35th Bienal de São Paulo (with Tiganá Santana, 2023), the artist now invites the public to move through three spaces. On the ground floor, sculptures and drawings from the Juntós and Orikis series lead the way to the upper level, where the video installation Orikì de instrução – composed of seven video monitors – occupies the entire space, aiming to awaken a connection with elements of nature: earth, leaf, river, wind, sea, twilight, and fire.
On the wall connecting the gallery’s floors, Heráclito presents Inventário de Tecnologias de Cuidado e Cura (Inventory of Care and Healing Technologies), a collection of ingredients associated with strength and healing that inhabit Candomblé rituals, including candles, okra, coins, honey, tobacco rolls, cigars, rice, eggs, and more. In this work, the artist revisits a previous version (2023), which dealt with photographic representation and drew on the modernist tradition of the grid. For Portas Vilaseca, the new iteration now brings the physicality of these components with their organic aromas. Maintaining this work throughout the exhibition also alludes to the needs for care and institutional responsibility that the artist has been addressing in his practice.
Curator and critic Lisette Lagnado reflects on how this career, built over more than thirty years, “adds layers of complexity to a canon that once claimed universality and develops a philosophy of becoming, inherent to the transmutation of nagô thought.” According to her, “the planet’s current state offers ample reason to justify spiritual quests for guidance and protection – appeals that perhaps deserve the label of ‘symptom’ when we consider the ongoing course of environmental destruction, foreshadowing the sixth mass extinction of biodiversity on the planet we inhabit.”
The gallery’s entrance hall will be imbued with energies related to balance, justice, and renewal, an atmosphere conveyed by major African deities, always paired in the Juntós series: Ogum with Oxumarê, Oxóssi with Omolu, Iemanjá with Tempo, Exu with Xangô. Each pair reflects the primary and complementary orixá guiding an individual’s life.
Since 2021, Heráclito has been developing the Juntós series – stainless-steel sculptures born from the combination of two orixás. In parallel, each Juntó is accompanied by an Oriki, poetic invocations in the Yoruba oral tradition. Enriched with therapeutic elements, these verses mark a new stage in the artist’s creative process, finding conceptual resonance with Yoko Ono’s “instructions”, particularly her 1960s haiku. This ongoing project envisages all possible combinations among the nineteen orixás, with the exception of those restricted by law: Oxalá may only serve as a regent, and Oxaguiã cannot be paired with Exu. In total, the system will feature 222 combinations.
Oríkì Ìwòran opens on 9 September and runs until 25 October.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Further details coming soon.
Info
Oríkì Ìwòran – Ayrson Heráclito
Curator: Lisette Lagnado
Opening: Tuesday 9 September, 7 pm
Exhibition runs until 25 October
Visiting times: Tuesdays to Fridays, 11 am–7 pm; Saturdays, 11 am–5 pm
Free admission
