Hélio Menezes is now not the director of the Museu Afro Brasil, a key São Paulo establishment based by sculptor Emanoel Araújo that’s recognized for its help of Afro-Brazilian artists, who’ve lengthy been uncared for by mainstream establishments within the nation.
Menezes introduced that he had been dismissed from his publish on Instagram final week, saying that the scenario behind the scenes on the museum had change into “unimaginable.”
He denounced what he described as “decision-making constructions formed by informality, personalism, and a scarcity of transparency—constructions nonetheless predominantly composed of people disconnected from the variety and Black management that the Museum represents (or ought to characterize), and missing engagement with the world of visible arts.” Menezes didn’t reply to a request for additional remark.
In his Instagram publish, Menezes stated that two board members on the museum—Wellinton Souza and the artist Rosana Paulino—had left their posts.
The museum instructed Folha de São Paulo that his dismissal got here amid problem reaching an settlement with Menezes “that balanced the expectations of the then director with the budgetary limits.” Furthermore, in a remark to ArtReview, the museum denounced what it described as “private assaults directed on the chair of the board of administrators” by Menezes.
Menezes was employed as director of the Museo Afro Brasil in 2024, lower than two years after Araújo died. On the time, Menezes stated, “It was (and is) probably the most fascinating museum, with probably the most beautiful acquisitions, and probably the most distinctive exhibitions I’d ever seen. It was unimaginable to not give in to her charms.”
He had beforehand been a curator on the Centro Cultural São Paulo and had labored on such tasks because the preliminary model of “Afro-Atlantic Histories,” which first appeared on the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and later traveled overseas. He additionally co-organized the 2023 version of the Bienal de São Paulo.
