Photo: Adriano MachadoK21 has selected Tadáskía as the winner of its annual Global Art Award. As part of the award, the Friends of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen have acquired her site-specific installation, brincando animada: travesti mariposa centopeia (animated play: travesti moth centipede, 2025).
Born in Rio de Jainero, Tadáskía’s work spans drawing, painting, sculpture and video to explore themes of transformation, self-perception, familiarity, strangeness and the living narratives of Afro-Transgender-cosmologies. brincando animada: travesti mariposa centopeia is composed of three works: a semi-abstract wall drawing, a poem inscribed in German and English and a new series of sculptures made from vegetables, fruits, liquids bamboo and taboa – a reed-like plant traditionally used by Afro-Indigenous communities of Latin America.
‘It is a mysterious gift to see my work – born around my mother Elenice, speaking to the plants and the stars, and my father Aguinaldo, who taught me to work with constancy – reaching places beyond my familiarity. I am deeply grateful and honored to receive the recognition of the 3rd K21 Global Art Award. I am so excited to see my drawings playing and coming to life in this other part of the world,’ said Tadáskía.
Tadáskía was selected from six artists, including Sin Wai Kin, Simon Fujiwara, Hashel Al Lamki, Celia Hempton and Sallisa Rosa, nominated by an international jury composed of Doryun Chong, Omar Kholeif, Jochen Volz and the late Koyo Kouoh.
Read more: Guilherme Teixeira interviews Tadáskía about her work at the 2023 Bienal de São Paulo
