Ventura Profana's Film Challenges Colonial Cinema with Celebration

Ventura Profana's film 'Para ver as meninas e nada mais nos braços' (2024) was part of the Sala de Vídeo installation at MASP in São Paulo, Brazil during winter 2024. The installation featured three large canvases: 'A maior obra de saneamento' (2024), 'O poder da trava que ora' (2021), and 'Procure vir antes do inverno' (2021), displayed in a room with carpets, cushions, and tatami mats. A small vintage TV with a headphone showed the film. The film opens with a sequence of photos from family albums and contemporary travestis, accompanied by Sir Lucas's free jazz organ. It features characters in a baroque-futuristic room, including Cassie Capeta, Bianca Kalutor, Williane Jacob, and Rainha F, who dance in slow motion to 80s pop and post-punk music. The film creates a space of celebration and resistance, challenging religious and colonial boundaries. Profana, a multidisciplinary travesti artist from Salvador, Bahia (born 1993), incorporates spirituality into her practice spanning music, performance, visual arts, and writing. The text was written by Abigail Campos Leal, a philosopher and professor at PUC-SP.