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‘Cinema is above all made from the body, the body that looks, that vibrates, that confronts’
– Ana Vaz
The films and installations of Ana Vaz investigate the legacy of colonial modernity and its lasting impact on land and communities. In each of her works, she focuses on the scars, ruins, ghosts and obscured stories that inhabit these territories, while also tracing the potentialities, intensities and alliances that may arise from them. Subverting the rational subject of Western narratives, Vaz approaches human, animal and vegetal worlds through what she calls ‘embodied cinema’. In it, affects and bodies take precedence. For her first major institutional exhibition, a modular environment designed for the occasion will host a constellation of Vaz’s recent works, including the three-channel film installation É Noite na América (2022), the last chapter of her Meteoro series (2023–25) and a new film produced in the Amazon region. The environment will also host events and workshops, which will turn the galleries into laboratories for radical pedagogy.
Biography
Ana Vaz (1986, Brasília) has held solo exhibitions internationally, including at Secession, Vienna (2025); Solar, Vila do Conde; Batalha, Porto (2024); Pivô, São Paulo (2022); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2021); Matadero, Madrid (2019) and LUX, London (2018). Her work has been included in the 18th Istanbul Biennial (2025); Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2023) and Biennale Gherdëina (2022). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions at institutions such as Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris (2023); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022) and Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Venice (2022 – commissioned by Fondazione In Between Art Film). Her films have been shown in festivals such as MoMA Doc Fortnight, New York; CPH:Dox, Copenhagen (2023); Berlinale, Berlin (2023, 2021, 2020); International Film Festival Rotterdam (2023, 2020); Locarno Film Festival and Viennale, Vienna (2022). Individual screenings and special focus on her work include events at the ICA, London (2025); Harvard Film Archive (2024); High Line Art, New York (2023); Cinema Urbana, Brasilia; Courtisane, Ghent; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (2022) and Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo (2020). Her work is represented in the collections of Kadist, Paris; Cnap, Paris; Pinacoteca, São Paulo and Frac Bretagne.
Ana Vaz lives and works in Paris.