Rosângela Rennó

Rosângela Rennó (Belo Horizonte, 1962) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. She graduated in architecture from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1986) and in fine arts from the Guignard School, Belo Horizonte (1987). In 1997, she obtained a doctorate in arts from the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo. Her first works, in the late 1980s, were made from photographs of family albums. Practically all her work is based on the appropriation of images and texts, especially photographs, negatives or photograms of films found at antique fairs, newspapers, official archives. She was one of the first Brazilian artists to progressively explore photography in installations and objects, overcoming the two-dimensionality of the image. Sometimes she uses the text to summon the projection of an absent image. Her photographs, videos, books, installations and objects weave judicious reflections about the nature of the image, the memory, the archive. Through the intersection between the private and public spheres, her work dialogues with artists such as Christian Boltansk.

She participated in the Johannesburg (1997), São Paulo (1994, 2010), Venice (2003) and Istanbul (2011) biennials; and in exhibitions such as América Latina 1960–2013, Fondation Cartier, Paris, and Crossroads: Contemporary Art in Brazil, Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio (both in 2014). Anthological exhibitions at the Cultural Centre of Banco do Brasil - CCBB, Rio de Janeiro (2003) and at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2012), stand out. She has received, among others, the ARCO Electronic/Media Art'99 Award, the Video Competitive Exhibition Award of the 13th Videobrasil International Electronic Art Festival (2001); the Mário Pedrosa Award, Brazilian Association of Art Critics (2009); in 2013, the Paris Photo Aperture Foundation PhotoBook of the Year Award; and the Historical Book Award granted by Les Rencontres d'Arles. Her work is present in numerous private and institutional collections, such as Centre Georges Pompidou; Tate Modern; Culturgest; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneo; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia; Stedelijk Museum; Museum of Modern Art New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles; Guggenheim Museum; Museu de Arte de Brasília; MASP; MAM-SP; and MAM-RJ.

CB, novembro 2020