Antonio Obá

Moving the earth, harvesting, knowing plants by smell, by name, by the design of the leaves, seeing animals, catching runaway chickens, helping with the housework, grating corn to make pamonha, walking silently in the woods... an immaterial inheritance that connects me to the departed ones.

– Antonio Obá

Antonio Obá investigates the influence and contradictions within the cultural construction of Brazil, giving rise to an act of resistance and reflection on the idea of national identity. Obá utilizes icons present in Brazilian culture as allusions to racial and political identity, exploring iconic historical and sometimes religious subjects within his sculpture, painting, installations, and performance. Obá’s own body is central to his research, questioning the eroticization of the black male body and the construction of his own identity. 

Antonio Obá (b. 1983, Ceilândia, Brazil) lives and works in Brasília, Brazil.

His most recent exhibitions include Finca Pé: Estórias da Terra, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (2025); Rituals of Care, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneve (2024); Revoada, Pina Contemporânea, São Paulo (2023); Path, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2022); Antonio Obá: Fables, X Museum, Beijing (2022). Additionally, his work was included in group shows such as Ancestral, Museu de Arte Brasileira / FAAP, São Paulo (2024); uMoya: The sacred Return of Lost Things, 12th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2023); Brave New World, Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle (2023); Histórias Brasileiras, MASP, São Paulo (2022); When We See Us, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2022); Carolina Maria de Jesus, um Brasil para os brasileiros, IMS Paulista, São Paulo (2021); Enciclopédia Negra, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo (2021); TUYMANS – CAHN – OBA, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris (2021); Possédé·e·s, MO.CO, Montpellier (2020); 36º Panorama da Arte Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo (2019); Arte Democracia Utopia - quem não luta tá morto, Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro (2018); Pipa Prize 2017, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro (2017); ENTRE, Casa da América Latina, Brasília (2016); and ONDEANDAAONDA, Museu Nacional da República, Brasília (2015).