STATEMENT

“Does this land belong to us? Does it belong to them? To whom, in fact, does land ever belong?” In Terra de Ninguém (No Man’s 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 inquiry—one 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 entry—a means to explore the wider cultural, psychological, and environmental consequences of colonization. A central question guides my practice: What sources of strength—spiritual, communal, emotional—remain available to those who have endured generations of displacement and domination?

Brazil, home to the world’s 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 Americas—an 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 Ninguém functions more like a “yield” 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 pause—an 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 ‘home’ become when the home and land that shaped us has been overtaken by others?

Johab Silva

Terra de Ninguém

Current Space Gallery, Baltimore, MD

Dec/Jan 2025-2026

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