Manuela Navas is a self-taught Brazilian artist who works primarily with oil painting, photography and woodcut printmaking. Her artistic practice is rooted in her own identity and in the experiences of the African diaspora in Brazil, unfolding between emotional realism and human storytelling. At the core of her practice lies the affirmation of Black bodies, femininity, motherhood and cultural identity, as communities and personal bonds become a celebration of emotional strength and resilience.
Chupim, conceived as part of the namesake children’s book by Itamar Vieira Junior, stages the Brazilian rural community as seen through the eyes of a child named Julim. The story follows the boy on his first day of work in the fields, where he is tasked with driving away the 'chupims' — birds considered harmful to crops. From the bond he forms with the small bird, the narrative expands to engage broader themes such as the relationship between humans and nature, rural poverty and a sense of justice for those deemed alien or other.
In Navas’s work, the story communicates through bold colours and evocative gestures, emphasising the characters’ bonds of affection and belonging rather than the precariousness imposed by their circumstances. The scenes develop across wheat fields and under clear skies, where Black subjectivities work, rest and play, reflecting a daily life that is at once contented and marked by labor.
Manuela Navas (b. 1996, Jundiaí, SP, Brazil) lives and works in Caraguatatuba, SP.