Elen Braga: redefining the personal and the political

At Art Rotterdam (28-30 March 2025 at Rotterdam Ahoy), Wouters Gallery from Brussels will showcase the work of Elen Braga in the New Art Section, curated by Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu. Braga’s art captivates viewers with its striking visual appeal, which can often be misleading at first glance: her works may initially appear playful and vibrant, yet a closer look tends to reveals a layered complexity, marked by sharp and critical reflection. In her practice, Braga weaves political themes, power dynamics and personal memories into compelling narratives.

Elen Braga is known for her multidisciplinary and conceptually rich approach, encompassing installation, sculpture, video, textile and performance. Her work delves into themes such as strength, power dynamics, ambition and resilience, blending personal experiences and local narratives with universal themes and current events. Drawing inspiration from mythology, mass culture, folklore, religion and cultural traditions from both Belgium and Brazil, Braga explores how these continue to shape our daily actions and beliefs. At times, she reinterprets historical events as acts of resistance against official narratives. The artist is particularly intrigued by the paradoxes and ambiguities that emerge in her work, always aiming to spark a dialogue.

Braga often draws on her own life and experiences — such as surviving a childhood bus accident — to create intimate connections between the personal and the political, or even the collective. Her work is usually deeply attuned to the context of the locations where it is displayed and is frequently presented in the public space.

The artist works with unconventional materials such as textiles (including hand-tufted tapestries), ceramics, metal, language and even her own body. For Braga, the process of creation is nearly as significant as the outcome: a ritual shaped by dedication, perseverance and self-imposed challenges. Physical exertion plays a vital role in that, as she frequently explores the physical and mental limits of her body and integrates these into her work. A notable example is her monumental tapestry “Elen ou Hubris” (2020), which measured 24 metres in length, weighed 200 kilograms and was displayed for just five hours at the triumphal arch of the Cinquantenaire in Brussels. Conceptually, the piece explored the tension between ambition and overconfidence (hubris), connecting mythological and biblical narratives with personal reflections on pride and discipline. The work took nearly two years to complete. 

For an earlier artwork, “Tão quente que era que pouco mais era morte” (“So Hot That a Degree More Would Mean Death”) (2015), Braga travelled to Death Valley in the United States, where she performed with a structure of twelve aluminium plates, inscribed with her interpretations of passages from Dante’s Inferno. This performance underscored her ongoing fascination with the duality of human strength and fragility.

For a recent exhibition at Wouters Gallery, Braga explored the increasingly blurred boundaries between public and private spheres. Translating the concepts of a café and a love hotel into textile installations, she questioned the consumption of love in a digital age.

Elen Braga was born in 1984 in Maranhão, Brazil, into a family of very modest means. Her mother’s work with textiles profoundly influenced her understanding of how craft and identity can intersect in meaningful ways. Raised in a strict religious environment, Braga even gained a degree of recognition as a gospel singer in Brazil. As a child, she also participated in beauty pageants, an intriguing contrast to her religious upbringing, which discouraged overt displays of vanity. Although religion initially provided her with a sense of structure and security, Braga began questioning her beliefs as a teenager. Through art, she found a new way to make sense of the world and express herself. Her first experiments in performance art emerged from a desire to push boundaries — both physical and conceptual. The techniques she developed as a gospel singer later proved invaluable in her performances.

Since 2016, Braga has been based in Belgium. In 2018, she completed a post-master’s degree at a·pass (Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies) in Brussels. She has participated in several residency programmes, including MORPHO, Central Saint Martins and Buitenplaats Brienenoord. Her work was exhibited at institutions such as WIELS, M HKA and Centre Pompidou-Kanal in Brussels and was recently part of a group show at Mu.ZEE in Ostend. Until the end of January, her work will also be on view at CC Strombeek. In 2025, her first monograph will be published by MER Books.

The work of Elen Braga’s will be featured in the New Art Section at Art Rotterdam, presented by Wouters Gallery from Brussels.

Written by Flor Linckens