Isa do Rosário Batatais, b. 1966

Isa do Rosário develops a practice deeply rooted in Black ancestry, family and collective memories, and oral traditions. Having learned textile crafts in childhood alongside her grandmother, the artist, spiritual healer, poet, storyteller, and art educator has developed a practice devoted to recovering, preserving, and celebrating Afro-Brazilian culture and thought.

Rosário describes her work as a response to a call to spiritual listening: ancestors who endured the crossing of the calunga, encantados, spiritual entities, and orixás whose voices intertwine with her lived experience and imagination. As Aline Fátima writes, “her practice reminds us that fabric, when handled with intention and memory, can hold stories that official historiography has erased.”

By stitching together layers of fabric, threads, and drawings, Isa do Rosário transforms manual work into an ongoing act of prayer, protection, and regeneration. Her works evoke the forces of nature and ancestral knowledge to create portals for passage, meditation, and refuge, affirming the continuity, love, and vitality of Black narratives.

Her solo exhibitions include “Como a Terra Respira” (2025, Museu Afro Brasil Emanuel Araújo, São Paulo, Brazil) and the tribute to Abdias Nascimento presented at Casa da Cultura Abdias Nascimento, “Kilombo de Abdias 111 Anos” (2025, Franca, Brazil). She has participated in group exhibitions and projects including the 12th Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art (2023, Liverpool, United Kingdom); “ANCESTRAL: Amefricanidades” (2024, Museu de Arte Brasileira, São Paulo, Brazil; 2024–2025, CCBB Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); and “Dos Brasis – Arte e Pensamento Negro” (2023–2026, Sesc Belenzinho, Petrópolis, and Franca, Brazil). She is also a co-author of “Arrimo” (2023), a collection of poetry by Black women; “Lamentos Libertos” (2023), a literary-visual work that expands her poetic and ancestral research; and “Gamela de Poesias” (2025).