Hélio Menezes is now not the director of the Museu Afro Brasil, a key São Paulo establishment based by sculptor Emanoel Araújo that’s identified for its help of Afro-Brazilian artists, who’ve lengthy been uncared for by mainstream establishments within the nation.
Menezes introduced that he had been dismissed from his publish on Instagram final week, saying that the state of affairs behind the scenes on the museum had change into “unimaginable.”
He denounced what he described as “decision-making constructions formed by informality, personalism, and an absence of transparency—constructions nonetheless predominantly composed of people disconnected from the variety and Black management that the Museum represents (or ought to signify), and missing engagement with the world of visible arts.” Menezes didn’t reply to a request for additional remark.
Associated Articles
In his Instagram publish, Menezes mentioned that two board members on the museum—Wellinton Souza and the artist Rosana Paulino—had left their posts.
The museum told Folha de São Paulo that his dismissal got here amid issue reaching an settlement with Menezes “that balanced the expectations of the then director with the budgetary limits.” Furthermore, in a comment to ArtReview, the museum denounced what it described as “private assaults directed on the chair of the board of administrators” by Menezes.
Menezes was employed as director of the Museo Afro Brasil in 2024, lower than two years after Araújo died. On the time, Menezes mentioned, “It was (and is) essentially the most fascinating museum, with essentially the most gorgeous acquisitions, and essentially the most distinctive exhibitions I’d ever seen. It was unimaginable to not give in to her charms.”
He had beforehand been a curator on the Centro Cultural São Paulo and had labored on such tasks because the preliminary model of “Afro-Atlantic Histories,” which first appeared on the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and later traveled overseas. He additionally co-organized the 2023 version of the Bienal de São Paulo.
