Sandro Ayê Salvador, b. 1990

Sandro Ayê’s practice is organized around a territorial tension: Pelourinho, the historic center of Salvador, is both the birthplace of his practice and its material archive. It is from colonial buildings in the process of demolition that the artist sources the raw material for his sculptures, reversing the logic of disposal that typically follows the destruction of these structures. The choice of material is also a political positioning: by carving orixás and spiritual entities from beams and doors that once sustained the architecture of the colonial city, Ayê inscribes Afro-Brazilian cosmology within the very structures that have historically sought to exclude it. In the words of curator Jamile Coelho, the artist “makes evident the legacy of Mestre Didi, Agnaldo dos Santos, and so many others through his work, not as an echo, but as a living and active unfolding.”

At the age of 26, he returned to a carving practice that had been familiar to him since childhood, describing the moment as a spiritual calling. He went on to develop, independently, a method of direct carving without preliminary drawings: the figure is progressively extracted from the block, while marks already present in the wood, including cracks, joints, and traces of paint, are preserved and incorporated into the anatomy of the work, becoming folds, textures, and articulations. His practice encompasses both individual figures of orixás, with close attention to the instruments and adornments associated with each deity, and projects that bring sculpture into dialogue with performance.

His solo exhibitions include “Padê Onã” (2026, Museu Nacional da Cultura Afro-Brasileira – MUNCAB, Salvador, Brazil). He has participated in group exhibitions including “Raízes: Começo, Meio e Começo” (2024, MUNCAB, Salvador, Brazil), with an international presentation as part of the Brazilian Season in France (2025, Marseille, France); “Festival Culturas Negras” (2025, Sesc Casa Verde, São Paulo, Brazil); “AFROART – Feira de Arte Negra e Indígena” (2025, Brazil); “Circuito Afro Carioca” (2024, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); and “CASACOR Bahia” (2022, Salvador, Brazil). His works are held in the permanent collections of MUNCAB (Salvador, Brazil), the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos (Pelourinho, Salvador, Brazil), which received a monumental sculpture of Xangô donated by the artist, and the Museu Afro Amazônico Josefa Pereira Laú, which holds works dedicated to Ogum and Iansã.