Marília Oliveira Explores Lesbian Love and Memory Through Photography and Performance

Artist, educator, and researcher Marília Oliveira (born 1984) creates visual narratives centered on lesbian love and memory. Her work, including the 2020 photobook 'Um livro sobre o amor sapatão,' documents the everyday lives of five lesbian couples, aiming to create a space of rest and belonging. Oliveira, originally from São Benedito, Ceará, first encountered photography in childhood through family snapshots, an experience that later informed her understanding of photography's relationship to class and economic access. She holds interdisciplinary training in Literature, Social Communication, and Visual Arts and works as a public high school Portuguese teacher. Her practice was significantly influenced by French conceptual artist Sophie Calle. In 2022, Oliveira developed the performance 'Inauguração do Museu do Amor Sapatão,' a speculative project announcing a fictional museum in public squares in Fortaleza, São Miguel dos Milagres, Tiradentes, and Berlin, which sparked controversy and censorship in one location. This reaction led to her 2022 photographic series 'Elas chegam pelo mar,' which features the legend of the 'Incriadas,' monstrous feminine figures from the sea, critiquing social perceptions of Brazil's Northeast region and creating a protective community for those marginalized. Her work was also included in the collective exhibition 'Bezoar do tempo' at MIS-CE in 2025, where she addressed familial memory gaps related to her grandmother. Oliveira's art challenges heteronormative prejudices and frames love as a daily ethical practice of care and resistance.