Marlene Almeida is a researcher, sculptor, and painter whose fundamentally interdisciplinary practice combines literary, scientific, and artistic knowledge in the investigation of a subject that has been central to her work since the 1970s: the soil. Particularly through expeditions across Northeastern Brazil, Almeida catalogs and preserves samples of colored earth. These expeditions are guided by the artist’s ambitious long-term project, the Museu de Terras Brasileiras (Museum of Brazilian Soils), which seeks to identify and study the colors found in different geological formations throughout the country. Throughout her career, Marlene Almeida has also been deeply engaged in ecological and political activism. She founded and directed the Centro de Artes Tambiá, where, for a decade, she coordinated international exchanges between artists, especially projects developed in collaboration with partners from Germany.

From the 1980s onwards, Marlene Almeida’s work attracted the attention of Brazilian and international art critics, including Walmir Ayala, Mário Schenberg, and Jacob Klintowitz, among others.

Her solo exhibitions include her first solo exhibition at Fundação Cultural da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil (1979); Passatempo, which traveled through João Pessoa and São Paulo, Brazil, as well as Brandenburg and Berlin, Germany (1999–2000); Grenze, Galeria Fórum, Berlin, Germany (2000); Tempo para o Destino, Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia – MuBE, São Paulo, Brazil (2013); and, more recently, Veios da Terra, Flexa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2025); Acute Earth, Carlos/Ishikawa, London, UK (2025); and Terra Agônica, a two-person exhibition with Walter Leblanc at Fondation Walter & Nicole, Brussels, Belgium (2025).

Among her recent group exhibitions are the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2025); Temporal Landscapes: Evolving Perspectives, Almeida & Dale, São Paulo, Brazil (2024); the 38th Panorama da Arte Brasileira, organized by MAM São Paulo at MAC-USP, São Paulo, Brazil (2024); ROOTED – Brasilianische Künstlerinnen, Vilsmeier-Linhares, Munich, Germany (2024); the 2nd Jingdezhen International Ceramic Art Biennale, China (2023); and Brasilidade pós-Modernismo, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, and Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2021).

Her work is held in public and private collections including the Museu Nacional do Conjunto Cultural da República, Brazil; Pinacoteca da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil; Núcleo de Arte da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; Instituto Burle Marx, Brazil; and the Vilsmeier-Linhares Collection, Germany.