Sônia Guajajara and the Brazilian flag stained with blood

When I saw the figure of the Secretary of Indiginous people from Brazil, Sônia Guajajara, holding the Brazilian flag stained with blood, I thought: "I gotta make a painting out of this image". It was through this idea that I joined an art gallery here in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I live.

My connection with art is old and I posted about my path here in my blog. However, I never thought that everything would happen so quickly as it has been and I posted everything here. However, I never never thought that everything would happen as quickly as it has been.

In November 2023 I finished my Sônia Guajajara painting and I believed it was really well done. I had already considered bringing some of my artwork to be seen by Julia, the owner from Noyes Art Galleryone of the most traditional galleries where I live in the USA. So, I thought that it would be the perfect oportunity. I didn't make an appointment, I just showed up there and asked if the owner was there. She wasn't, but the lady who was working as a receptionist liked my painting so much that she took a photo of it and told me that she would talk to her later. I got really happy that she liked it, but I belived that I would have to go there again and maybe get lucky.

However, I barely arrived at home and I got a phone call. It was the lady who was at Noyes. She told me that she sent the photo to Julia - the owner of the gallery - and she got curious about me because of my art piece. Then we scheduled a meeting for the next day and she asked me to bring more of my artwork. I couldn't believe she was actually interested in my work.

The next day I went there with several paintings. Among them was one of the first ones that I created.

The magnolias painting didn't really impress Julia, but she said that I have a good eye for it. I understand that this is not my best piece. I haven't had the proper technique yet. When I painted it I hadn't started my painting classes and coloring studies. Now I know that the effort that I put on my artwork made me get much better, and also because of my great teacher from Brazil, Roberto, who teaches me online.
After checking my other pieces she said that they have a lot of personality and that she would really like to expose them at Noyes. Then, after a long conversation with my husband, we decided that we would figure out how we would pay the dues for me to be a member of the gallery. Since that day I can finally say that I am an artist, not the "frustrated artist" that I thought I was.

Since I joined Noyes I sold two paintings: the first one was this on your right, that shows a glass of whisky with a lemon cut in two pieces on a wood furniture. There's a gentleman who always goes to the gallery to see the news. Julia showed him the painting and said: "This is your style". So, he looked at it and said: "Put this with the other ones". I couldn't believe that I was selling my first work.

The second painting that I sold was a study. In fact, it was one of the first oil paintings that I made, since I started with acrylic painting. It was based on Caravaggio's Medusa. It was made black and white because I was still learning about colors, but it didn't make people appreciate it any less.

I had more to show, but I only brought my best artwork to expose at the gallery.

Painting Sônias Guajajara definitely changed my life. I know how important this image is, politically speaking, and this is the main reason that made me paint it at first, since I consider myself a digital activist pro human rights. However, this image also has a major importance in my life and I'll be forever grateful for her being this woman for the indiginous people rights.

This made me realize that my art is political and that I want to paint people who are invisible to society. I'm going to create more and more pieces related to social causes so people can see my identity when they see my artwork. Being accepted in the gallery is super important because I can reach more people and make them think and talk about subjects that need to be discussed more and more by the regular population.

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