Life resists, nature persists, beauty remains.
Yes, Afro-Brazilian art took root from a feeling of its own history, traditions, dreams and tenacity.
It is this tenacity that allowed black Brazilians to resist, to survive the social atrocities to which they were exposed, and which they are still living in their history, religion and traditions in Brazil.
It is with this persistence they conquered space, accepting their existence and transforming it into a positive reality.
Lita Cerqueira is stubborn and bold.
With this obstinacy she built a work that traces the Afro-Brazilian History in Contemporary Art. Without really being aware, persistence led her to an art that has given her the chance to change her own life.
The Brazilian “Quilombo” struggle came to an end, it was replaced by that of the intellectual struggle, which Lita Cerqueira participates actively. Brazilian “Quilombo” gave birth to cinema, samba, dance and the creation of the Brazilian culture.
Lita Cerqueira’s gaze sweeps the land, demystifies life, beautifies all that is beyond what we perceive at first glance.
It is my great honor to present the Art of Lita Cerqueira, offering a little of this heritage and sharing all these emotions and feelings so well with you.
Ricardo Fernandes
Lita Cerqueira’s photographs are a result of sensitivity of a gaze. Wrought in the anguish and acuteness of repressed people, but proud and patient ones, with the magical dimensions of this civilization that is in progress, a fourth dimension in the life of inspired nations such as Brazil.
I am well acquainted with this confluence between desire of a tropical artist and the unpredictability of our willful gods. I am an artist, just as Lita is, also black and also from Bahia, and I know that her photographs are a miracle of a gaunt attentive eye tended by the inattentive eye of gods in a trance.
Gilberto Gil
Main Exhibitions
2014
Les couleurs du Brésil, Johnson & Johnson Paris, France
Le Brési en Noir et Blanc, Cloître des Billettes, Cultural Center, Paris, France
2013
Vinícius de Moraes, 100 years, FNAC, São Paulo, Brazil
A Fotografia Como eu Sou, FNAC, Curitiba, Brazil
Lita Cerqueira at Ricardo Fernandes Gallery, Paris, France
2012
La photographie telle que je suis, Ricardo Fernandes Gallery, Paris, France
Femmes du Brésil, Centre Diocésain de Besançon, France
Photographe Bahianaise, Lita Cerqueira, Centre Diocésain de Bensançon, France
2011
Collective-Collectible, Ricardo Fernandes Gallery, Paris, France
De A a Z, Ricardo Fernandes Gallery, Paris, France
2010
A Fotografia Como Eu Sou, Oi Futuro Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2009
A fotografia como Eu Sou, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil
Madaleine Cerimony, Bom Fim Church, Paris, France
2008
Cosmopolita – Lita Cerqueira Retrospective, Correios Cultural Center, Salvador, Brazil
2004
Acquisition Ceremony, 10 photos of Lita Cerqueira at the Afro-Brazilian Museum of Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil
2003
Madaleine Cerimony, Bom Fim Church, Paris, France
2001
Official Photographer of Bahia Carnival – Trio Eletrico 2222, Flora Gil, Salvador, Brazil
2000
The Rediscovery of Brazil 500 – Black Body and Soul Festival – Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil
1997
Representative of the State of Bahia at VIVA BAHIA!, African American Heritage Society – Pensacola Cultural Center of Florida, Miami, USA
1976
Official Photographer of Salvador Cultural Center, Salvador, Brazil
Songbooks Photography
2002
60 years of Gilberto Gil: All tales, Bene Tonteles, GG Edições, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1998
Anthology of Photography in Africa and the Indian Ocean, Emanuel Araújo and André Joly, Revue Noire, Paris, France
1990
Cazuza, Compact book
1989
Gilberto Gil, Bossa Nova
1987
Almir Chediak, Lumiar Edition House
Caetano Veloso, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Kassav, Philippe Conrath, Editions Seghers, Paris, France
Cazuza, Only Mothers are Happy, São Paulo, Brazil
Gilberto Gil – All the words of Gilberto Gil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Burning Sands, Scarlet Moon Knight, Editora Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Documentary Film
Gilberto Gil, The Power of Music. Dominique Dreyfus film produced by Yves Billon; Distribution Zaradoc – Paris, France
Celebrities immortalized by Lita Cerqueira
Alceu Valença
Arrigo Barnabé
Bob Marley
Caetano Veloso
Cazuza
Chico Buarque
Dorival Caimi
Gilberto Gil
Gal Costa
Hermeto Pascoal
João Gilberto
Jorge Benjor
Luís Melodia
Maria Betânia
Milton Nacimento
Ney Matogrosso
Peter Tosh