Rosana Paulino’s work centres on social, ethnic, and gender issues, focusing in particular on Black women in Brazilian society and the various forms of violence endured by this population due to racism and the enduring legacy of slavery. Paulino explores the impact of memory on psychosocial constructions, introducing diverse references that intersect the artist’s personal history with the phenomenological history of Brazil—both as it was constructed in the past and as it persists today. Her research includes the construction of myths—not only as aesthetic foundations but also as psychic influences. Paulino—whose artistic output is unquestionably fundamental to Brazilian art—has developed a practice of reconstructing images and, beyond that, of reconstructing memory and its mythologies.

Her most recent exhibitions include The Time of Things, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium (2022); Paraíso Tropical, The Frank Museum of Art, Otterbein University, Ohio, USA (2019); Rosana Paulino: A Costura da Memória, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (2018); and Atlântico Vermelho, Padrão dos Descobrimentos, EGEAC, Lisbon, Portugal (2017).

Recent group exhibitions include the 59th International Biennale di Venezia – The Milk of Dreams, Venice, Italy (2022); Afro-Atlantic Histories, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA (2022); Global Positioning – Public Art Foundation, New York, Boston, Chicago, USA (2022); Brasilidade: Pós-Modernismo, CCBB, Brazil (2022); 22nd Sydney Biennial, Sydney, Australia (2020); Carolina Maria de Jesus: Um Brasil Para os Brasileiros, Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); 21st Bienal Sesc_Videobrasil, Sesc 24 de Maio, São Paulo, Brazil (2019); Slavery in the Hands of Harvard, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA (2019); and Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil (2018).