Isabela Seifarth (1989) is a visual artist who works primarily creating narratives conveyed through painting. Her research moves through the universe of traditions from Bahia and Recôncavo Baiano, including both their tangible and intangible heritages, bringing together elements of popular culture and the places that hold them.

She has participated in group exhibitions at MAM-Bahia, Museu Afrobrasileiro UFBA, Casa do Benin, Solar Ferrão, and MAC-Bahia—whose collection holds two works by her. She also took part in the residency Fluxos: acervos do Atlântico Sul, with a participation in the 30th Dakar Biennale (DAKART), Senegal (2022). She began working as a muralist in Salvador with the mural Salvem as Matas, Salve à Cabocla! (2021), part of Projeto Mural, and recently completed a large mural in the Curuzu neighborhood for the project Tem arte nas ruas. She has also participated as an artist in SSA Mapping (2018, 2023, and 2024)—with the video Feira Livre winning an award in 2018—and in Bumba-meu-mapping, São Luís do Maranhão (2025).

Se não tenho colegas universitários, tenho milhões destes universais (2024) was created from research conducted in the public archive of the city of São Félix, in the Recôncavo Baiano. The work presents an overlap of images that invites reflection on the contradictions of access to knowledge and citizenship in Brazil. Two scenes are juxtaposed: on one side, children holding literacy diplomas; on the other, adults lined up in everyday bureaucracies.

This overlay proposes a critical view of the cycle of educational exclusion. The title—Se não tenho colegas universitários, tenho milhões destes universais—underscores the idea of belonging and collective resistance in the face of educational marginalization. By acknowledging the more than nine million illiterate Brazilians (IBGE, 2024), we see the reality of people who learn to read the world without ever having been formally taught to read words. This is how many popular manifestations arise, as a re-signification of exclusion, transforming the knowledge of the school of life into a universal language.