Visual artist Sidney Amaral (1973–2017, São Paulo, SP, Brazil) explored, in diverse languages, the racial and socioeconomic relations that mark Brazilian history. Through drawings, watercolors, and paintings that mostly portray Black bodies, and sculptures crafted with everyday objects, the artist reveals the structure of Brazilian reality, foregrounding the subjectivity of individuals. Both his graphic and sculptural work contain strong symbolic and metaphorical elements in the construction of this subjectivity. 

Self-representation, a recurring theme in his production, brings to light the artist’s own experiences as a Black man, father, husband, and public-school teacher. Departing from this experience and the observation of social dynamics, his work deals with the deprivations, anxieties, and longings of a historically marginalized group that continues to be the target of prejudice and oppression. In his compositions, Amaral emphasizes the intertwining of past and present, usually by referring to historical scenes depicted by European artists during slavery. By assuming the roles of both the observer and the observed, the artist gives voice to the silenced subject, and this iconography is thus revised and ironized. 

The materiality in Sidney Amaral’s production, especially in his installations and sculptures, demonstrate the artist’s awareness of the canon of art and the predominance of certain materials and techniques. By transposing everyday objects into bronze and marble, he questions value judgments and classical themes. Likewise, the emphasis he gives to himself and Black and racialized people is a stance taken in the face of the systematic exclusion of these individuals from representation, participation, and self-determination in Brazilian society. 

Amaral’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions such as Sidney Amaral: um espelho na história, at Almeida & Dale, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); Viver até o fim que me cabe! – Sidney Amaral: Uma abordagem, at Sesc Belenzinho, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); and O banzo, o amor e a cozinha de casa, at the Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo, São Paulo, Brazil (2015); in addition to participating in several group exhibitions, such as Vai, vai, Saudade, Museo Madre, Naples, Italy (2024); 35th São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (2023); Histórias brasileiras, MASP, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); and Valencia Biennial, Spain (2007). His work is in important public collections, such as the Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo, Brazil; MAM São Paulo, Brazil; Museum of Contemporary Art of USP — MAC USP, Brazil; Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil; among others.