dialogue
Agrade Camíz | Artist
February 2025
6 min read
For Agrade Camíz, the streets of Rio aren’t just a setting, they are a reflection of its contradictions, where beauty, harshness, and inequality coexist. Her work draws from the visual and cultural language of the city’s suburban peripheries, where improvised architecture, domestic interiors, and everyday urban elements tell deeper stories of belonging, exclusion, and survival.
From Rio to London, Agrade explores the social and spatial limits imposed on certain bodies, translating them into a visual language that blends critique and poetry. Railings, buses, decorative objects, each carries layered meanings of movement, security, and confinement. Agrade’s practice reveals how spaces shape identity and how people, in turn, assert themselves within those spaces.
Hey Agrade! How has the architecture of Rio influenced your artistic aesthetic?
“The popular architecture of Rio de Janeiro has a strong influence on my artistic practice, mainly because my research is rooted in the visual and cultural characteristics of the suburban areas of Rio, where I grew up. In my work, I aim to translate the aesthetics of popular constructions, such as houses, housing complexes, and the improvised architecture so common in peripheral areas. Elements like railings, tiles, walls, and gates often appear in my pieces, not only as visual symbols but also as conceptual reflections on protection and limitation. Railings, for instance, are a part of Rio’s urban landscape and beyond, carrying a narrative that blends security with confinement. This duality makes me think about the physical and social limits imposed on the people who inhabit these spaces.
Another important element for me is public transport, particularly the 474 bus, which connects the suburbs to Jardim de Allah, an affluent area of the city. This bus appears in several of my works because it symbolises the experience of the peripheral body navigating opposing territories and the strategies we use to occupy spaces that were often not made for us. It acts as a bridge, carrying history and representation. I am also deeply interested in the domestic spaces typical of Brazil. Many of my works reference interiors, such as decorative objects, evoking suburban homes and the improvised yet intimate architecture of the city. These details help create a dialogue between public and private spaces, between physical territories and lived experiences. Ultimately, what I do is translate Rio’s contradictions - its beauty, harshness, and inequalities - into a language that blends critique and poetry. The city is within me, and I try to reflect that in my work.”
What is the relationship between art and activism in your practice?
“In my practice, the relationship between art and activism is intrinsic and deeply connected to my personal history and the social context I come from. My work is shaped by the dynamics of the suburbs, Black identity, and elitism. For me, art is a tool for both denunciation and reflection, but more than that, for invention. By exploring elements of popular architecture or bringing in other symbols, such as the 474 bus, I seek to translate narratives of resistance, occupation, and survival. These elements do not appear solely as visual references but as symbols loaded with political and social significance. They tell stories of bodies navigating spaces of exclusion and asserting themselves in territories that often deny them belonging.
My research also focuses on issues of sexuality. I am particularly interested in exploring how women - especially Black, suburban, and marginalised women - construct their stories and occupy spaces that have historically been denied to them. When I use techniques like bikini tan lines created with electrical tape on non-standard bodies or incorporate symbols of everyday femininity, I am both celebrating our beauty and asserting the autonomy of these bodies.
Urban art, which was my starting point, also carries this activist character. Art allows me to exist and resist simultaneously, I think that’s what activism is for me.”
During your residency at Gasworks in London, what was it like exploring the city’s social stratification?
“During my residency in London, exploring the city’s social stratification was both striking and, in many ways, revealing. Like Rio de Janeiro, London is a city deeply marked by inequalities, but these differences manifest themselves in distinct ways, prompting me to reflect on how social and spatial dynamics shape bodies and territories. What caught my attention was how social layers reveal themselves through architecture, public transport, and even the way neighbourhoods connect -or isolate - from one another. This division is not as explicit as in Rio, where favelas and luxury condominiums often coexist in visual proximity, but it is just as evident, albeit more subtle and quiet. The public transport system, for example, became a significant point of reflection.
I was also struck by how architecture reflects a history of exclusion and hierarchy, but also resistance. I saw this in grand historical buildings that symbolise power and control, contrasting with housing estates that bear signs of isolation yet foster a rich sense of community. This made me think about the aesthetics of Brazil and how these narratives intersect, even in vastly different contexts. Exploring these dynamics in London became an exercise in translating that experience into my artistic language, creating a dialogue between two cities that are so distinct yet equally complex. It expanded my understanding of social stratification, as well as my approach to these themes in my work.”
What message or emotion do you hope viewers take from your work?
“I hope my work acts as a mirror, albeit a fragmented one, where each person can find reflections of their own experiences or collective stories. I want them to leave with a sense of restlessness but also with a certain recognition, as if, even amidst the chaos or discomfort, there is something deeply human and shared.”
Do you have a favourite artist, and how has their work influenced you?
“I have many! My influences come from different fields and times, but they always dialogue with themes that run through my work, whether I’m working with painting, video, or performance.While in London, I was introduced to Hurvin Anderson’s work, and I deeply admire how he articulates memories of the diaspora, urban spaces, and intimate landscapes, often using colours and abstraction to explore belonging and exclusion. His perspective on spaces carrying deep histories resonates with my own investigation of territories, and his work has been an inspiration for my artistic journey.”
Image credits
1. Image by Tayná Uràz.
2. Image by Elvis Almeida.
3. Image by Elvis Almeida.
4. Image by Elvis Almeida.
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