Jorgge Menna Barreto
Jorgge Menna Barreto (b. 1970, Araçatuba, Brazil) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Menna Barreto is an artist and researcher who throughout his practice has let specific sites determine what he will build and, more recently, what he will eat. Interested in agroforestry, land art, site-specificity, plant-based food and multispecies assemblages, he considers our digestive system as a sculptural tool that has the ability to shape our environment. His long-term project Restauro: environmental sculpture was first presented at the 32nd São Paulo Biennale, Brazil (2016) and travelled to the Serpentine Galleries, UK (2017). Barreto is a professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and shares his research through lectures, writings and art. He is currently a resident at the Jan Van Eyck Academie, Netherlands.
Project Description
Jorgge Menna Barreto presents a version of his durational project Environmental Sculpture, culminating in a mural at Bluecoat and a publication. The publication, Enzyme #2: Life Systems, anchors on Menna Barreto’s research based practice focussing on how our environment is shaped by what we eat and how we live. Interested in reorienting our relationship with the natural environment, the research space at Bluecoat provides the backdrop for a mural, Mauvais Alphabet, entangling drawings of common weeds found in Liverpool to form a community of plants which are mostly invisible and many times unwelcome, even though they play a vital role in the ecosystem. Both the publication and the mural are produced in collaboration with other artists and thinkers, including Liverpool John Moores University Art and Design students whose research, sketches and drawings will be woven into the works.
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial with support from the British Council and Catherine Petitgas.
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