Miguel Afa's Solo Exhibition in Rome Explores Memory and Landscape Through Painting

A collaborative effort between A Gentil Carioca and rhinoceros brings Miguel Afa's first solo exhibition in Italy to Rome. Titled 'O tempo que mora em mim,' the show will run from March 24 to June 3, 2026, featuring a new series of paintings created during the artist's stay in the city. These works, developed specifically for the exhibition, draw from Afa's personal experiences in Rome, linking body, memory, and territory. His artistic practice, noted for its sensitive and deeply human approach, produces images that traverse experiences in Brazil and Italy, blending everyday scenes, emotional connections, and art historical references, including a dialogue with Caravaggio. Central to this body of work is the concept of time as a living, transformative force, where memories are not fixed records but fluid rearrangements shaped by displacement and encounters. Recurring elements like the 'quintal' (backyard) emerge as symbolic spaces of affection and belonging, connecting diverse geographies and intimate experiences. The paintings vary in scale, with monumental figures juxtaposed against delicate, everyday scenes, creating a contrast between grandeur and intimacy. Painting itself is presented as a narrative construction site where recollection, imagination, and experience intertwine. The exhibition underscores rhinoceros's international dialogue while expanding the presence of Brazilian art abroad. Afa, who began his career with graffiti in Complexo do Alemão, now develops work that merges poetry and politics, investigating peripheral bodies and proposing new forms of representation grounded in affection and memory.