In 1987, Dora Longo Bahia (1961, São Paulo, Brazil) completed a degree in Art Education at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP) in São Paulo, Brazil, with Nelson Leirner. In 2003, she obtained a master's degree in Visual Poetics from the School of Communication and Arts (ECA-USP), University of São Paulo and, in 2010, a doctorate in Visual Poetics from the same school. In 2016, she did a post-doctorate in Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo. She was a professor at FAAP between 1994 and 2013 and has been a professor at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo since 2013.
Since the 1990s, she has focused her work on themes such as oppression, death, sex and violence, where she emphasises the body, often portrayed as a political subject or as a victim of violence. Longo Bahia uses various media including painting, video, sculpture, installation and drawing (the artist defines herself as an image producer) and appropriates political narratives, often linked to Brazil, her country of origin, or to the broader context of South America.
Between 1992 and 1995 she was the bass player in the band Disk-Putas, giving concerts and performances.
Dora Longo Bahia's work has been shown extensively in Brazil and abroad. Examples include her solo exhibitions Perigo! at Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo (2022); Minas at Centro Cultural São Paulo (2022); Lessons From Brazil at Hestia Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau, Belgrade (2020); Choque at Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon (2019); and Os desastres da Guerra at Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo (2017). She has also participated in several group exhibitions, including As Vidas da Natureza-Morta, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo (2024); Elementar: fazer junto, Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo (2023); We never sleep, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2020); Temporalidades.Arte latinoamericano, Museo de Arte e História Moderna Guanajuato, León, Mexico (2018); 9th Busan Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art and the former Bank of Korea, Busan (2018); and Bienal de São Paulo (2009, 1986).
Her work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAMSP); Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP); Colección FEMSA, Puebla, Mexico; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, USA; and Hall Art Foundation, Reading, USA.
Pedro Sequeira
