Ana Raylander Mártis dos Anjos’s practice develops over the course of long-term, research-based projects. In the large-scale installation A casa de Bené [Bené’s house], Raylander turns the research question inward, onto herself and her nuclear family. Starting from a set of objects left over from the demolished wattle-and-daub house built by her great-grandfather Benedito Cândido, Raylander builds an installation that seeks to recognize her great-grandfather’s creative influence on her political and poetic constructions. The foundations of Bené’s house engage materials already recurrent in her practice—textile totemic column-sculptures composed of tied-up pieces of fabric made from natural fibres, woollen knits, cotton shirts, and leather straps—while incorporating new techniques and components as well. The new elements include brass baskets, sculptures, and objects from her great-grandfather’s house, continuing a quest to recover her family’s memory. Part of the ephemera in the installation includes a sketch of the floor plan of Bené’s house, mapped by Efigênia, the artist’s grandmother. The whole work explores familial structures as enduring institutions, looming large in both memory and form. Their significance is made precious through casting in bronze and the symbolic presence of columns—here, representing Raylander’s great-grandfather’s nine children. The sets of metal baskets refer to the small town of Bela Vista de Minas, where the presence of mining is pervasive and contrasts with traditional practices like basketry. Out of these baskets come soft sculptures that wind throughout the space and serve as an umbilical cord that connects the entire installation, weaving together narratives of family history, place, nation, and belonging.

WORK IN THE EXHIBITION:

20 A casa de Bené (1963–2016/25), installation composed of wooden columns, used clothing, bronze basket, belts, glue, hose, mesh wire, braided ropes, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Galeria Yehudi Hollander-Pappi. Commissioned by Fundacao Bienal de Sao Paulo for the 36th Bienal