Sallisa Rosa (1986) is an Indigenous artist whose work spans photography, video, performance, and installation. Her practice investigates the relationship between earth, memory, and identity, often using clay collected from different regions as a means of connecting with her ancestry. Rosa’s work addresses the ongoing process of decolonization, combining Indigenous perspectives with contemporary practices to question dominant narratives and reflect on cultural preservation and transformation. She is currently participating in the 36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not all travellers walk roads – Of humanity as practice.

Untitled (2023) is a watercolor depicting a kind of thorn-covered branch. In the words of Caio Bonifácio, “Sallisa Rosa works with memory—formed in clay pieces, drawings, installations, photographs, and other media (…) Memory is also a quality of plants, animals, rivers, and other beings. All record their trajectory, the absorption of time, and the transformations of the place. Branches, for example, reveal how a tree responds to scarcity or abundance of water, to changes in soil, air, and interactions with other bodies.”

About the work, Sallisa writes:

“Thorns, venom, toxicity, dose, and treatment.
Scarifications and scars are symbols of expurgation,
Paths traced by antidotes.
A reminder that poison is also cure.”
The work was presented at Art Basel Miami in 2023.