Thaís Muniz
Rites of Care, Curse & Comfort

Thaís Muniz is a Brazilian Irish artist with African heritage, based in Dublin. She examines representations of ‘otherness’ through ideas of blackness, displacement and memory in a postcolonial context, and explores embodied and experiential art-making processes and outcomes. Her prints, collages, textile pieces, and performances combine archival materials and personal memorabilia, storytelling and symbology.

This exhibition features a selection of new, recreated and past works that engage transgenerational trauma, manifestations of racism, the objectification of womanhood by the male gaze, and the erasure of ancestral knowledge systems. A key motif is an inverted triangle, which Muniz puts forward as a visualisation of the transatlantic trade of enslaved people – representing Europe, West Africa and the Americas – as well as her own autobiography, in terms of her Brazilian origins, African ancestry and Irish citizenship. The circle is another recurrent motif, and represents ori – referring to spiritual intuition and destiny among the Yoruba, a West African ethnic group with whom Muniz self-identifies. The exhibition demonstrates Muniz’s interest in the long-lasting impacts, both material or psychological, of colonialism on racialised communities.

Central to the exhibition is New Atlantic Triangulations Flag (2022), consisting of triangular and circular shapes printed on hanging fabric pieces. The work formally mimics a traditional national flag, but the designed emblem is intended to represent motion, whether metaphorically linking dispersed populations or referring specifically to the movements of persons undermining borders. Muniz blends references to Yoruban, Brazilian or Irish histories and mythology, for instance, the Celtic legend of the island of Hy-Brasil or the ancient alphabet known as Ogham, to meditate on her hybrid cultural identity. In the print Ori Axe Ogham (2024), ori evokes her African heritage; axe is the Brazillian word for ori; and Ogham is an ancient Irish alphabet. Muniz uses the slanted dashes of Ogham typography to spell out the words ‘axe’ and ‘ori’. The abstract geometric diagram can be understood as both an illustration of the movement of the artist’s body and a mapping of dispersed populations.

This exhibition is produced by SIRIUS and curated by Miguel Amado, Director, with production support provided by Cork Printmakers.