CNJ presents the exhibition “THE LAND THAT INSISTS,” a solo show by Moisés Patrício, in celebration of Black Consciousness Month. The National Council of Justice (CNJ), in Brasília, presents from November 17 to December 12, 2025, the exhibition “THE LAND THAT INSISTS,” a solo show by visual artist and babalorixá Moisés Patrício, one of the leading names in Brazilian contemporary art and participant in the 36th São Paulo Biennial.
Curated by Igor Simões, art critic and historian, the exhibition brings together nearly 20 new and historical works in various media — photography, painting, sculpture, objects, and installation — offering a broad panorama of the artist’s production.
The initiative marks Black Consciousness Month, highlighting an artist whose career is recognized for promoting reflections on racial equity, social justice, and the fight against religious intolerance — values that also guide CNJ’s institutional policies.
The exhibition “THE LAND THAT INSISTS”
“THE LAND THAT INSISTS” was specially conceived for the CNJ and presents a representative set of works that reveal the aesthetic, cultural, and political power of Moisés Patrício. Highlights include photographs from the iconic series “Aceita?” (“Do You Accept?”), which has inspired studies at international universities, as well as new sculptures, paintings, and ritual objects made from ancestral straw.
According to curator Igor Simões, “Moisés Patrício’s work insists. His faith, his bodies, and his presence within the field of Brazilian contemporary art insist. For twenty years, the artist has returned to the land and religiosity as vital nourishment, sustaining the belief that from this ground another world can still emerge.”
The artist Moisés Patrício
Moisés Patrício lives and works in São Paulo. His practice combines photography, video, performance, rituals, and installations, traversing multiple times and languages. Inspired by the orixá Exu, the artist engages with Afro-Brazilian and African cultures, reconfiguring the space of contemporary art to include ancestral knowledge and worldviews. His purpose is to propose symbolic and cultural repair by occupying the traditionally white art circuit with Afro-diasporic and spiritual perspectives — what he defines as his “Exuistic place of action.”
Curatorship and conception
The exhibition is curated by Igor Simões, also responsible for the national exhibition “Dos Brasis,” and conceived by Karla Osorio Netto, lawyer, art specialist, and gallerist. The event is organized by the program Justiça Plural (Plural Justice), a partnership between CNJ and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from CNJ’s General Secretariat. Justiça Plural aims to strengthen the promotion of human and socio-environmental rights and expand access to justice for vulnerable populations.
Information
Exhibition: THE LAND THAT INSISTS – Moisés Patrício
Curator: Igor Simões
Conception: Karla Osorio Netto
Period: November 17 to December 12, 2025
Hours: Monday to Friday, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Venue: National Council of Justice – SAF Sul, Quadra 2, Lots 5/6, Blocks E and F, Brasília (DF)
Free admission. Accessible venue with guided tours and translation in Portuguese, Libras, English, and Spanish.
