Fazendo a América: Rosângela Rennó and Histories of Memory and Migration in Brazil

Brazilian artist Rosângela Rennó (b. 1962) uses images from private and public archives as well as anonymous photographs, recontextualizing them into immersive installations that address notions of memory while generating new layers of meaning. Her work compels viewers to look closely at what is missing as much as what remains.

“Fazendo a América,” Rennó’s first solo show in a US museum in nearly 30 years, presents six installations created over the last quarter century, each revealing the power, and fragility, of archives. The artist’s investigative approach brings to the forefront marginalized histories—including Latin American political unrest movements and the legacies of military dictatorships—and interrogates official narratives to uncover how photography can both document and obscure lived experiences.

The newest work, commissioned by the MFA for this exhibition, looks at Brazilian immigrants to the United States and their impact on the urban landscape. Comprised of 48 portraits—more than half of which depict Brazilians living in Greater Boston—as well as a special bilingual newspaper conceived by the artist in tribute to Brazilian Times, it highlights the role photographs play in preserving and connecting histories that may be forgotten or overlooked. This and Rennó’s other installations on view here invite visitors to consider their own personal and institutional archives, asking what is recorded, kept, and remembered, and by whom.