Portraits of Women of Teixeira de Freitas at All Stars Project, 5/1-2
Currently on display at the All Stars Project on 42nd Street near Times Square is Através Dos Outros/Through Others, an exhibit of portraits by Brazilian painter Irley de Jesus Leal of poor and marginalized women from his hometown of Teixeira de Freitas. This is the first North American exhibition of Through Others. It is also the first collaboration between the Transformance Institute: Culture and Education, located in Cabelo Seco, Brazil, and the All Stars Project, in New York City.
Leal was born in Caravelas in 1970, and contracted polio as a young child, requiring him to walk with crutches. Leal's hyperrealistic drawing caught the eye of his teachers, but without an art school he was forced to develop his technique at home. Following an exhibition in 1995 at Teixeira University, Leal was commissioned to paint portraits for the landless rural workers movement, and in 2000 came into contact with photographer, artist and arts educator, Dan Baron Cohen. In 2005, he selected 10 of Dan's portraits and began his project Through Others to, in his words, "see myself through others and walk the world, on brushes."
The Transformance Institute is an independent organization based in the north of Brazil. It emerged in 1999 from collaborations with landless, indigenous, trade union and university communities in Brazil dedicated to the application of artistic languages as resources for social transformation. The All Stars Project, Inc. is a 33-year-old national nonprofit that uses play and performance to engage the issues of poverty and underdevelopment. It sponsors free outside-of-school youth development programs, the Castillo Theatre and UX, a free university-style school of continuing development for people of all ages and all educational backgrounds.
Through Others will be open to the public:
Friday, May 1, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 2, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Free admission.
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