Dedeh Farias has completed a new mural at Sesc Santarém in Pará, Brazil. The artist frames the work as an assertion of self-representation, drawing from lived experience, local knowledge and references rooted in the Amazon.
“For me, it is always a great pleasure to create from our own references,” Farias writes. The mural follows that position: a declaration that people can speak for themselves, define their own histories and share the cultural worlds they inhabit without relying on an outside gaze.
Image via https://www.instagram.com/p/DdY61SLlkH5/
Farias describes Santarém as a place shaped by people who live, work, create, think and exchange knowledge connected to ancestry. Rather than treating those references as distant symbols, the artist places them at the centre of the mural’s purpose, linking visibility with voice and presence.
The work stands at Sesc Santarém, the cultural and social-services institution in the city centre. It extends a mural practice through which Farias has developed figurative and geometric visual languages across graffiti, illustration and large-scale public commissions in Pará.
Photography for the project is credited to @filmedg. Executive production is credited to @jadejares and @galeria.azimute, with local production by @_efrainferreira and assistance from @catatal_07.
Images via @dedehfarias on Instagram.