Galeria Leme presents, Autorretrato em branco sobre preto (Self-portrait in white on black), the first solo exhibition by Jaime Lauriano at Galeria Leme.

In Autorretrato em Branco sobre Preto, there is no orally narrated story, neither a proposal of rewriting History as it is told. The narration lies in lending the body and in the representation of a story that starts from within the subject, towards a re-elaboration of the current History starting from the artist. After all, a self-portrait is a witness of the subject in a particular time and place, in it we see beyond his physiognomy, we see formal and compositional choices, how the author creates himself for the other.

In his works, the artist creates an analytical-narrative of how language has operated an important role in the colonization process in the Americas: first, men and women from different African nations were mingled, so that they could not communicate with each other; later, the neo-Latin languages were imposed as mandatory languages and cultures in that diaspora situation. This operation leads the viewer to wonder about how colonialism goes beyond the physical and material subordination of the subject, also providing the colonized with the means of communication and expression. Language, in this case, not only transmits an information, but holds an almost spiritual contingent upon the culture upon which it is used - to intervene in the language is to intervene in the people's subjectivity.

This exhibition is also a question about the ways of elaboration of historical traumas. And here, Jaime Lauriano refers to all forms of domination derived from colonial Brazil, which persists even today, only performed by updated agents. How does the cultural apparatus elaborate this trauma? What is the role of museums and cultural institutions within this system? Is it to glorify the various cultures that have landed here as exotic signs of a distant past? Or, is it to investigate, unearth documents, archives, research and dialogues which elaborate a history of domination beyond exposing handcuffs in a showcase, as if they were something that no longer exists? How does the meritocratic discourse feeds itself back from the discourse of mestizaje, and vice versa? How is history performed and updated upon myths and rituals? How does the logic of private property and the desubjectivation of bodies intersect?

Jaime Lauriano (São Paulo, Brazil, 1985)

Jaime Lauriano holds a degree in Visual Arts from São Paulo's Centro Universitário Belas Artes. His work discusses the structures involved in the formation of public space and the history of the development of the Brazilian state. It uses strategies present in contemporary audiovisual productions (such as advertising), of archival materials and field research, to leverage its discussions.

Among his most recent exhibitions are the following solo shows: Impedimento, Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014; Em Exposição – Sesc Consolação, São Paulo, Brazil, 2013; Olhares, Escutas E Outras Histórias, SESC, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, 2010. And the group shows: PIESP Exhibition 2013-14 / Programa Independente da Escola São Paulo, Casa do Povo, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014; Tatu: futebol, adversidade e cultura da caatinga, Rio Art Museum (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2014; Taipa-Tapume, Galeria Leme, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014; Espaços Independentes: A Alma É O Segredo Do Negócio, São Paulo, Brazil, in 2013.