Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This lecture focuses on how Afro-Brazilian artists address the persistence of slavery-related oppression in Brazilian cities from the late nineteenth century to the present. By bringing in artistic practices, this talk shows how artists have reinvented the construction of cities through architecture, landscape design, and art. We focus on works by Artur Bispo do Rosário, Arthur Timótheo da Costa, Caetano Dias, Jorge dos Anjos, Heitor dos Prazeres, Mestre Didi, Nêgo, Seu Gabriel, Rubem Valentim, and Rommulo Vieira Conceição, among others.
Professor Roberto Conduru was born in Brazil. He received a B.A. in architecture from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and a Ph.D. in history from Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil. Before coming to SMU, he was professor of art history and theory at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, and visiting professor of art history in the Meadows School in 2014. Conduru’s research addresses modern and contemporary art and architecture in Brazil, with an emphasis on Afro-Brazilian art, as well as Constructivist art and architecture. His interests also encompass global art history and current debates in the arts of Latin America and the trans-Atlantic world.
Conduru’s published works include Art in Brazil in the 19th Century (Barléu, 2020; with A. Martin Chillón), Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis (Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018; co-edited with P. Polk, R. Johnson, and S. Gledhill), Architecture Agouda au Bénin et au Togo (MRE, 2016; with M. Guran), Carl Einstein e a arte da África (EdUERJ, 2015; co-edited with E. O’Neill), Pérolas Negras – Primeiros Fios (EdUERJ, 2013), Arte Afro-Brasileira (C/Arte, 2007), and the monographs Frida Baranek (Barléu, 2014), Paulo Pasta (Barléu, 2013), Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, 1920-1950 (Barléu, 2011), Jorge Guinle (Barléu, 2009), Willys Castro (Cosac & Naify, 2005) and Vital Brazil (Cosac & Naify, 2000). Conduru’s current research considers art, slavery and the fight for freedom in Brazil since the sixteenth century. Conduru’s project addresses contemporary artworks that reflect on those historical processes that have affected sites, things, bodies and minds in Africa, Brazil and Latin America. His work also considers the body and material artifacts in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in the practices and cultures of slavery in Brazil, and in the processes of resistance and emancipation by Africans and their Afro-Brazilian descendants.
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This lecture focuses on how Afro-Brazilian artists address the persistence of slavery-related oppression in Brazilian cities from the late nineteenth century to the present. By bringing in artistic practices, this talk shows how artists have reinvented the construction of cities through architecture, landscape design, and art. We focus on works by Artur Bispo do Rosário, Arthur Timótheo da Costa, Caetano Dias, Jorge dos Anjos, Heitor dos Prazeres, Mestre Didi, Nêgo, Seu Gabriel, Rubem Valentim, and Rommulo Vieira Conceição, among others.
Professor Roberto Conduru was born in Brazil. He received a B.A. in architecture from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and a Ph.D. in history from Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil. Before coming to SMU, he was professor of art history and theory at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, and visiting professor of art history in the Meadows School in 2014. Conduru’s research addresses modern and contemporary art and architecture in Brazil, with an emphasis on Afro-Brazilian art, as well as Constructivist art and architecture. His interests also encompass global art history and current debates in the arts of Latin America and the trans-Atlantic world.
Conduru’s published works include Art in Brazil in the 19th Century (Barléu, 2020; with A. Martin Chillón), Axé Bahia – The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis (Fowler Museum UCLA, 2018; co-edited with P. Polk, R. Johnson, and S. Gledhill), Architecture Agouda au Bénin et au Togo (MRE, 2016; with M. Guran), Carl Einstein e a arte da África (EdUERJ, 2015; co-edited with E. O’Neill), Pérolas Negras – Primeiros Fios (EdUERJ, 2013), Arte Afro-Brasileira (C/Arte, 2007), and the monographs Frida Baranek (Barléu, 2014), Paulo Pasta (Barléu, 2013), Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, 1920-1950 (Barléu, 2011), Jorge Guinle (Barléu, 2009), Willys Castro (Cosac & Naify, 2005) and Vital Brazil (Cosac & Naify, 2000). Conduru’s current research considers art, slavery and the fight for freedom in Brazil since the sixteenth century. Conduru’s project addresses contemporary artworks that reflect on those historical processes that have affected sites, things, bodies and minds in Africa, Brazil and Latin America. His work also considers the body and material artifacts in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in the practices and cultures of slavery in Brazil, and in the processes of resistance and emancipation by Africans and their Afro-Brazilian descendants.
Stay connected: icamia.org/subscribe
Plan your visit: icamia.org/visit
Watch more on ICA Channel: icamia.org/channel
Membership means more at ICA Miami. Join today for expanded access to a world of innovative art and ideas: icamia.org/support
#icamiami
