Time and place: Saturday, 26. August 2023 at 13:30, Verkstedet at Galleri F 15, Jeløya, Moss
Using personal narratives, archival material or the news as source material, Nayara Leite’s work can often be read as an performative activist approach (speeches; readings; parades), or form as photography, fanzines, sculpture and installation, video work, sound — perhaps all to be considered one larger project concerning LGBTQ+ realities in her homeland Brazil, Norway, or in a global context.
At the “MOMENTUM 12: Together as to gather”, curated by Tenthaus as a collaborative satellite of “The State’s Art Exhibition, the 136th Autumn Exhibition” (Høstutstillingen 2023, statens 136. kunstutstilling), Leite presents a performance — Homodagene, based on documentation from “Homodagene 1983”, Bergen — and the installation In Search of Rainbows, depicting Leite’s search for rainbow flags; a protest against former Brazilian president Bolsonaro’s homophobic government.
With Leite’s work as a point of departure, the conversation between Leite and activist/poet Mabell Holand — two prominent voices concerning LGBTQ+ issues and thinking — will invite the audience to reflect upon art, activism, and human rights and ask: What has changed in those 40 years since “Homodagene” in Bergen? Or, perhaps more importantly: What’s at stake today? As Leite says, quoting Audre Lorde: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
Time and place: Saturday, 26. August 2023 at 13:30, Verkstedet at Galleri F 15, Jeløya, Moss
NB: The performance Homodagene takes place at 13:00 and coincides with Moss Pride.There will be room for a break before the talk.
Duration: Approximately 35–50 min with additional time for questions. The conversation will be in English.
Transport: Car (a 60-min drive from Oslo Central Station) or by train to Moss followed by a walk (in total approx. 70–80 min). This is also an opportunity to see several of the other works at “MOMENTUM 12”.
Forty years after the photo was taken, Leite proposes to raise questions related to intersectionality and to explore what has changed within the realm of discussions among the LGBTQ+ community.
Homodagene (2022; banner and performance, 15 min) is Nayara Leite’s response to a photograph found at Skeivt Arkiv (the Norwegian Queer Archive) depicting a protest during “Homodagene” in Bergen in 1983. The photo shows one of the protesters carrying a sign with Jeg er glad jeg er homo (“I am glad I am gay”) written on it. Forty years after the photo was taken, Leite proposes to raise questions related to intersectionality and to explore what has changed within the realm of discussions among the LGBTQ+ community. Her research is inspired by Audre Lorde, who wrote: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
For MOMENTUM 12, Leite is exhibiting a banner with the quote, “I am glad we are plural”, presented over the course of the biennale. She will also present a performance on the 26th of August which will coincide with Moss Pride. The work is curated by The Autumn Exhibition. Homodagene was originally commissioned by Bergen Kunsthall for “Cruising Utopia”, curated by Nora-Swantje Almes.
Nayara Leite’s work In Search of Rainbows (2022; 4K video [9:19 min], rainbow flag, and hammock hook) investigates the situation of the queer community in north-eastern Brazil when Jair Bolsonaro was the country’s president. Shot in Fortaleza, Brazil, in January 2022, the short film depicts Leite’s search for places that would proudly display rainbow flags outside their premises. With the challenging political situation that dominated the country, a visible rainbow flag would be a protest against Bolsonaro’s homophobic government. Through this search, Leite found something completely unexpected instead.
In Search of Rainbows merges political views with Leite’s own experiences. The artist’s first rainbow flag is also part of the installation at “MOMENTUM 12”: By hanging the flag on a hammock hook in the exhibition room, Leite refers to her coming out story and how she dealt with her catholic family.
The work is curated by the “Høstutstillingen 2023, the 136th Autumn Exhibition”. In Search of Rainbows was originally commissioned by Preus Museum for “Over regnbuen / Over the Rainbow”, curated by Hilde Herming.
The conversation is part of the programme Billedkunst Live and produced in warm collaboration with Leite and Holand; “Høstutstillingen 2023, the 136th Autumn Exhibition / Statens 136. kunstutstilling”; MOMENTUM 12 and Tenthaus, Oslo; Galleri F 15, Jeløya. Billedkunst Live is funded by the Fritt Ord Foundation / Stiftelsen Fritt Ord; Sparebankstiftelsen; and Art and Culture Norway / Kulturdirektoratet. Billedkunst is published by the Association of Norwegian Visual Artists / Norske Billedkunstnere. EIC: Kjetil Røed. Co-editor: Tine Semb.
Nayara Leite (b. 1989, BRA; she/her) is a Brazilian artist and writer based in Bergen, Norway. She holds an MFA from the Bergen Art Academy and an MA in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography from the London College of Communication. Nayara works across text, performance, analogue photography, video and installation. Through autobiographical narrative, political news, letters to close friends and archival material, she produces a portrayal of the reality in which the LGBTQ+ community lives in Brazil and in Norway. She has exhibited and/or held performances at Bergen Kunsthall, Palmera, Lydgalleriet, Isotop, Bergen Kjøtt, and KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes (KODE2), Bergen; Preus Museum, Horten; Studio 17, Stavanger; and Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo.
Mabell Holand (b. 1990, NOR; they/them) is a writer, advocate and poet. Their work is driven by the motivation for social change, within the areas of intersectional topics. They create and present creative work in a poetic genre, and hold interactive lectures as well as thematic workshops by order. Mabell is writing a collection of poems and strives to continue their contribution as a writer, artist, and speaker for various initiatives.
Homodagene (2022; banner and performance, 15 min) is Nayara Leite’s response to a photograph found at Skeivt Arkiv (the Norwegian Queer Archive) depicting a protest during “Homodagene” in Bergen in 1983. The photo shows one of the protesters carrying a sign with Jeg er glad jeg er homo (“I am glad I am gay”) written on it. Forty years after the photo was taken, Leite proposes to raise questions related to intersectionality and to explore what has changed within the realm of discussions among the LGBTQ+ community. Her research is inspired by Audre Lorde, who wrote: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
“MOMENTUM 12: Together as to gather” takes place from 10 June to 8 October 2023 at Galleri F 15 on the island of Jeløya in Moss, Norway. The 12th edition of the biennale is the first to be curated by an art collective: Tenthaus – consisting of approximately 20 artists and cultural workers. The collective has collaborated together in various constellations since 2009. Characterised by an open, process-oriented form of participation and collaboration, its focus is on local contexts, exploring collectivity and inclusion through different forms of engagement. For the biennale, Tenthaus practices a gathering methodology; gathering artists, texts, neighbours, materials, processes and biennale, locally and globally. The intention is to facilitate interaction and further cooperation between people and institutions. Thus, the Autumn Exhibition was invited to a unique collaboration: Among the applications for The 136th Autumn Exhibition, The National Jury selected works by two artists to be shown at the biennale.
The MOMENTUM biennale was established in 1998 and is organised and produced by Galleri F 15 in Moss, Norway. For over two decades, MOMENTUM has consistently supported compelling curatorial vision and operated as a platform for exploring the exhibition format, both in the Nordic context and with an international perspective.
