Chants

Barbalho’s work, which spans a variety of materials and mediums, offers an array of symbols, motifs, and references that weave together fragmented narratives. These pieces prompt reflection on the tension between meaning and its visual representation. The Chants series operates like cryptic visual puzzles, each work acting as both an invocation and a meditation on the limitations of language. Here, Barbalho embraces a visual language—one that transcends traditional writing systems and evolves in constant dialogue with the cultural, spiritual, and philosophical undercurrents of our time. 

The exhibition continues Barbalho’s exploration of drawing as a form of visual writing. For the artist, drawing is an “ancestral technology” that bridges the mind and body, offering a unique space for exploring consciousness, imagination, and the physicality of creation. The works—often large-scale and meticulously detailed—combine vibrant colours and complex forms that create a hypnotic rhythm. This dynamic sense of unplanned chaos evokes a deeper, spiritual connection to themes of nature, the body, and the cosmos, and the complexities of human existence. 

The exhibition takes its name from Barbalho’s concept of the Chant—a form of visual prayer that evokes the act of seeking meaning through fleeting symbols and fragments. Barbalho’s works are informed by his broader philosophical inquiry into the nature of language and the act of communication, which he views through an anthropological lens. In Chants, the artist reflects on the failure of traditional writing systems, but, crucially, does not abandon the desire to communicate. The work thus becomes a search for new ways to translate and express that which cannot be contained by conventional words. 

Barbalho’s artistic process involves an interplay of visual references, drawing from history, pop culture, and his academic background in philosophy, law, and anthropology. His compositions combine these influences to weave together complex, fragmented narratives. Viewed from a distance, the works vibrate with colour; upon closer inspection, a rich tapestry of layered images emerges, offering a multitude of interpretations. 

Chants will also include book-format canvases, which are symbolic of Barbalho’s critique of the modern “attention economy.” In an age when art is often consumed quickly and discarded, these works demand sustained engagement and reflection. Chants challenges the transient nature of contemporary art reception, positioning itself as a testament to the endurance of meaning and the necessity of deeper, more sustained engagement with art and ideas. These “open book” canvases become spaces of self-authorship, where ideas float through visual fields like pollen or forest debris—simultaneously fragmentary and fertile. 

In a cultural moment defined by intrusion, disposability, and digital hyper-consumption, these works resist immediacy. Each composition appears as a page seeking resonance over recognition. This exhibition, in its totality, becomes a meditation on how to construct meaning in a world saturated with noise. In a culture driven by distraction and digital saturation, Barbalho’s works reject instant readability. Instead, they call for slow looking—inviting viewers to sit with uncertainty and engage deeply. 

Barbalho’s work is inspired by a broader cultural context, from the handcraft traditions of Brazil’s Northeast, where vibrant light and colours mirror the intensity found in his art. The contrasts between international mass tourism and local cultures are woven into this exhibition’s exploration further enriching the exhibition’s layered meanings. In Chants, Barbalho reimagines drawing not as illustration but as invocation. Living close to the Atlantic Forest, his daily encounters with the rhythms of nature—birdsong, blooming trees, insects moving like cathedrals of light—inspire a visual lexicon that resists translation into words. 

These drawings are not static; they are events, offerings, and chants in themselves. Chants redefines the boundaries of drawing by exploring the interplay between form, narrative, and the shifting meanings of cultural symbols. Immersive and layered, the exhibition expands what drawing can be—transforming it into a space for ritual, resistance, and the imaginative reinvention of language.