Ilha do Ferro, Alagoas, August to November 2025
Ilha do Ferro, a village in the municipality of Pão de Açucar, in the Alagoas hinterland, is one of the main centers of contemporary Brazilian folk art. The exhibition “Correnteza” [Current] presented 25 black and white photographs taken in the 1980s by photographer and filmmaker Celso Brandão, capturing a seminal moment when he and museologist Cármen Lúcia Dantas met the community. The tradition of working with wood and textiles in the Lower São Francisco river region was already old, but it was from this encounter that a new dimension opened up. The acquisition of objects and photos and videos taken by Celso served as a springboard to disseminate this art beyond its borders. By making available a selection of images from 40 years ago in the small Cabra gallery, the exhibition returned to the inhabitants what is theirs – a shared history. The cultural effervescence of Ilha do Ferro now permeates family members and neighbors in the Lower São Francisco region, and is expanding the expressions of the residents, not only in visual arts, design and crafts, but also in popular festivities, storytelling and music.
Curatorship: Cármen Lúcia Dantas e Cíntia Ribeiro
Curatorial consultancy: Adélia Borges
Photos: Celso Brandão
Access articles about the exhibition
Gazeta de Alagoas
Leke Morone
Access text by Adélia Borges
