The new Board of Directors of ABCA (Brazilian Association of Art Critics) assumed office on the first day of this year. The administration, covering the 2025-2027 term, will be led by Alessandra Simões Paiva as President. Alessandra is nationally and internationally recognized for her contributions to the study of decoloniality and the arts. An Associate Professor at the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB), she views this election as a milestone in her career, which has been marked by a commitment to promoting inclusion and plurality in the field of visual arts in Brazil.
In recent years, Alessandra has gained widespread recognition with the publication of her book “A Virada Decolonial na Arte Brasileira” (The Decolonial Turn in Brazilian Art, Mireveja Publishing, 2022). This work received an ABCA award in 2023 for its pioneering contribution to debates on ethnic, racial, and gender issues in art and culture. The book consolidates her postdoctoral research conducted at the University of Leeds, UK, supported by a Brazilian government grant. Alessandra's motivation to explore this theme arose from her concerns about the exponential growth of Black, Indigenous, and gender-dissident artists, curators, and researchers in the Brazilian visual arts scene, aligning with the global process of decolonizing cultural institutions and critically revising the fields of theory, criticism, and art history from new perspectives.
Her book became the first Brazilian academic reference to provide a comprehensive framework for discussing decoloniality in the arts, which had previously been addressed in a fragmented and insufficiently rigorous manner. This methodological gap often led to superficial controversies without a consistent theoretical foundation, particularly in universities, the press, specialized publications, and social media. Thus, the book has helped mitigate miscommunications surrounding controversial topics often treated in a sectarian, radical, and superficial manner.
Alessandra has consistently integrated her academic work with socially impactful practices, making art criticism a field deeply engaged with contemporary social, cultural, and political issues. In this sense, she has been actively involved with the ABCA. Recently, she contributed to reviving ABCA's political legacy, which in its early days during the 1950s had emblematic figures like Mario Pedrosa and Sergio Milliet among its founders, under the auspices of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and with UNESCO's support in the post-war context.
The pivotal moment for this political revitalization of ABCA occurred during the “JORNADA ABCA”, the association’s annual congress, organized and chaired by Alessandra in 2020 with financial support from the Brazilian government. The event focused on art and human rights, bringing together numerous prominent figures from the Brazilian art scene. The congress marked a turning point for the artistic circuit and ABCA's operations, which, following the event, established the Commission for Critical Plurality. Created and coordinated by Alessandra, this commission implemented affirmative actions within the organization. These actions included systematic invitations to Black and Indigenous individuals to join the association and the creation of new categories for the ABCA Annual Award: 1) Emanoel Araújo Award for collections, archives, conservation, and historical documentation; 2) Yeda Maria Award for initiatives in art education; 3) Gilda de Mello e Souza Award for early-career critics.
Alessandra began her career as an art critic in the Brazilian press over 25 years ago, contributing to major newspapers, websites, and specialized magazines nationally and internationally. She currently collaborates with ArtNexus magazine, the leading publication specializing in Latin American visual arts, writing articles in Spanish and English. Her prolific career includes hundreds of texts, a critical legacy that has earned her awards and invitations for various editorial collaborations, notably the Young Critics Award (2012) from the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Alessandra is also the mother of triplets, Luísa, Carolina, and Isabela, now 17 years old.
Check out the newly elected Board of Directors, elected during the General Assembly on November 22, 2024:
President: Alessandra Simões Paiva
1st Vice President: Hélcio Magalhães
2nd Vice President: Carlos Terra
1st Secretary: Cristiélen Ribeiro Marques
2nd Secretary: Gabriela Abraços
1st Treasurer: Alexandre Araujo Bispo
2nd Treasurer: Michele Petry
Regional Vice Presidents:
North/Northeast Region: Robson Xavier da Costa
Central-West Region: Ana Lúcia Beck
Southeast Region: Alecsandra Matias de Oliveira
South Region: Luciane Garcez
Audit Committee:
Primary Members: Luis Sandes, Francine Goudel, Emerson César Nascimento
Alternates: José Armando Pereira da Silva, Viviane Baschirotto, Alexandre Sá