Marcelo Moscheta's 'Rejeito' Installation Transforms Dry Leaves into Ceramic Archaeology at Fábrica de Arte Marcos Amaro

Marcelo Moscheta's solo exhibition 'Rejeito' at Fábrica de Arte Marcos Amaro in Itu presents an installation of approximately 4,500 ceramic pieces mimicking dry leaves. The project, awarded the Prêmio FAMA Museu e Campo at the 15th SP-Arte, emerged from the artist's response to the 2018 Brumadinho and 2015 Mariana dam disasters in Minas Gerais. Moscheta collected fallen leaves from the factory grounds, creating plaster molds and silicone matrices filled with paper clay—a blend of clay and cellulose fiber—which were then pressed, dried, and fired. The resulting ceramic fragments are stacked in a room, forming an accumulation that explores themes of discard, memory, and collective presence. Assisted by a team of young artists including Eliel Fabro, Giulia Baptistella, and Carlos Mendes, the work inverts the concept of 'rejeito' (mining waste) from an agent of historical erasure to one of archaeological recovery. Moscheta links the piece to environmental degradation, Amazon and Pantanal fires, and the COVID-19 pandemic, framing it as a critique of unchecked natural resource exploitation. The exhibition, initially postponed due to the pandemic, opened with free admission and online scheduling.