The River that Covers Me: Feliciano Centurión, José Leonilson and Matheus Chiaratti
![Matheus Chiaratti, Noites de Maio (Abetarda) [Nights of May (Abetarda series)], 2023, glazed ceramic, 20 x 18 x 15 cm](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_500,h_500,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-cbprojects/usr/images/exhibitions/group_images_override/119/noites-de-maio-abetarda-nights-of-may-abetarda-series-_ph.estu-dio-em-obra_2.jpg)
We are pleased to present a group exhibition featuring Feliciano Centurión (1962 – 1996), José Leonilson (1957 – 1993) and Matheus Chiaratti (b. 1988), produced in collaboration with Gisela Projects. New works by Chiaratti construct a dialogue with Centurión and Leonilson, two artists who gave soft and poetic form to queer identity in Latin America in the 1980s-90s. An imaginary friendship between these artists from two different generations, who never crossed paths, is articulated by Chiaratti through letter writing, visual references and a shared artistic sensibility centred around love, passion and intimacy.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, we invited Human Rights Watch to lead a conversation at our gallery for the second time.
Artist Matheus Chiaratti, Cristian Gonzalez Cabrera (Human Rights Watch), and Evan Moffitt (The Observer) spoke about our exhibition, LGBT+ rights in South America, the legacy of queer artists and writers working in the 20th century, and the context in which Feliciano Centurión and José Leonilson produced such resonant bodies of work, which Chiaratti responds to throughout the exhibition. Please find the full conversation below.
