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Landing of the Sibyls is a work developed during the CASA B Artist-in-residence project, at the Museu Bispo do Rosário Arte Contemporânea (mBrac), held in April 2018, followed by the exhibition "Almofadinhas | Experiência B", curated by Diana Kolker and Ricardo Resende, where a symbolic dialogue was created between the production of the artist with that of Arthur Bispo do Rosário.
The moths used in this work were found dead in the rooms of the CASA B artist-in-residence program. The small cushions were made by hand by the artist himself, from pieces of an old pillowcase that used to belong to him. The moths were mounted on the cushions with pins, in the same manner used in scientific entomological collections boxes. The insects carry small plastic toys, representing weapons, on their backs.
In many American cultures, if a butterfly enters a house, it is a sign of good luck, but if it is a moth, also called "witch", a bad omen will be there. The "witch" would be the carrier of the bad news. The Sibyls are a group of characters from Greco-Roman mythology, described as women who have prophetic powers, under the inspiration of Apollo.
On the other hand, butterflies and moths are often associated with the feminine and is thought of as "delicate and fragile", the opposite concepts normally associated with soldiers and the military. This opposition, in the work of Fábio Carvalho, compose the main dialectic of his artistic production, which seeks to raise a discussion about gender stereotypes, and question the common sense that strength and fragility, virility and poetry, masculinity and vulnerability can not coexist.
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