Terra de NinguĂŠmÂ
 Terra de NinguĂŠmÂ
STATEMENT
âDoes this land belong to us? Does it belong to them? To whom, in fact, does land ever belong?â In Terra de NinguĂŠm (No Manâs Land), I investigate these questions through a layered examination of the persistent structures of colonialism in South America, more precisely in Brazil. Rather than constructing a linear narrative, I approach the exhibition as a spatial inquiryâone that places historical trauma in conversation with the ecological and social crises that continue to unfold today.
My upbringing in Brazil, coupled with nearly two decades living in the United States, positions me within the complex racialized identity of pardo, formed through Indigenous, African, and European lineages. Yet despite the personal resonance of this history, the exhibition is not autobiographical. Through projection mapping, sculptural forms, and new media installations, I use my own experience as a point of entryâa means to explore the wider cultural, psychological, and environmental consequences of colonization. A central question guides my practice: What sources of strengthâspiritual, communal, emotionalâremain available to those who have endured generations of displacement and domination?
Brazil, home to the worldâs largest Catholic population, stands as a profound example of colonial imposition. The Portuguese enforced religious conversion on Indigenous peoples while bringing the largest number of enslaved Africans to the Americasâan entanglement documented early on in the writings of Pero Vaz de Caminha. The repercussions of these origins remain painfully present: illegal deforestation, extractive farming, corporate expansion, and the systematic erasure of Indigenous territories. These dynamics, though rooted in Brazil, resonate globally as recurring patterns of exploitation and disregard.
In contrast to earlier exhibitions where I leaned toward direct critique or resistance, Terra de NinguĂŠm functions more like a âyieldâ sign. I recognize that bodies, cultures, and ecosystems can withstand only so much pressure before collapse. Instead of demanding confrontation, the works in this exhibition aims to slows the viewer, asking for a pauseâan opportunity to reconsider what it means to seek refuge or belonging in the face of systemic precarity. A few questions to consider are: Where do we locate peace where peace can't be found? And what does âhomeâ become when the home and land that shaped us has been overtaken by others?
Johab Silva
Terra de NinguĂŠm
Current Space Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Dec/Jan 2025-2026
Genesis 37
Projection mappingÂ
 â01âmin â00âsec
Mp4
Single channel
2022-2025
Studies for Land Survey
Wall paint, wood
2017
Too Late To Get A Deal
Muliple animation on 4 channel monitor, reclaimed and altered shopping cart,artefacts from Braziliam natives fromAmazon raiforest, plants from the gallery, branch from unknown tree, book, LED light.
2025
The Day The Earth Stopped: The Watchtower Stories
Projection mappingÂ
 â02âmin â40âsec
Mp4
Single channel
2023-2025
Parana
Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence
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Lava Me Nas Aguas
â08âmin â54âsecÂ
55 inch Led monitor, 2 channels
Concrete block, slingshotsÂ
2023-2025
Exotica is not Erotica: Araras
Animation, 3D modeling
â17âmin â48âsec
Mp4, Single channel on monitor
2023-2025
Exotica is not Erotica: Flor
â27âmin â47âsec
Mp4, Single channel on monitor
2025