January 13,
2005
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Brazilian
Ex-Voto Sculpture on Exhibit at Ramapo
College
(Mahwah) – Miracles
in the Backlands: Aspects
of Africa in Brazilian Ex-Voto Sculpture will open in
the Pascal Gallery at Ramapo College of
New Jersey on Tuesday, February 8 and continue
through March 18. An opening
reception will be held from 5 – 7 p.m. on February
8 and a collector’s talk is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The exhibition,
mounted in recognition of African Ancestry
Month, features small sculptures from private collections
and related prints by Brazilian artist Liza Papi. The
ex-voto, or milagre as it is also called in rural
Brazil, is a unique form of popular art, a byproduct
of the folk Catholicism practiced in the
region. According to collector and exhibition
co-curator Beate Echols, “Northeastern Brazil is one
of the country’s least industrialized and most mysterious
regions. Its original indigenous population has been
blended with both Europeans and descendants of African slaves. Religious
beliefs serve to provide a refuge from hardship and to cope
with adversity. Religious cults are still of a home-made
variety. They combine elements of Catholicism with indigenous
and African belief systems.”
Ramapo
College gallery director Sydney Jenkins aided in selecting
the pieces. The sculptures on display—heads, hands,
feet, hearts, breasts, entire human figures, farm animals—range
from tiny to almost life-sized and are carved from wood or
sculptured from clay. They are direct manifestations
of the Catholic “miracle” as understood in this
region of Brazil. They serve as physical proof that a
miracle (milagre) has been performed
by a saint in response to a believer’s plight. The
objects represent the fulfillment of a vow
(hence ex-voto) or promise made in return
for a favor granted.
The Brazilian
scholar Lelia Coelho Frota observes that ex-votos “retain
the vigor of deeply felt art.” However, the art
form may become a thing of the past, increasingly
replaced by factory-made replicas.
This program is made possible in part by funds from the New
Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner
Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Pascal
Gallery is located in the Berrie Center for Performing and
Visual Arts at Ramapo College. Gallery hours are
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday, 1
to 7 p.m. For more information, call 201.684.7147.
