Joyce Candeia was born in 1995 in Rio de Janeiro, granddaughter of the great samba composer Antônio Candeia Filho. While largely self-taught across several artistic media, she is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Her debut exhibition, Sob a Potência da Presença 2019, held at the Museu da República, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, marked the beginning of her 

In 2021, her series of sculptural paintings, Sinergia, was acquired by the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) and featured in the exhibition Um defeito de cor (2022). Curated by Marcelo Campos, Amanda Bonan, and the writer Ana Maria Gonçalves, whose eponymous novel guided the conceptual framework, the exhibition brought together over 400 artworks by Afro-Brazilian artists, including Rosana Paulino, Tiago Sant’Ana, and Mestre Didi. It traveled to São Paulo and Salvador and was named the best exhibition of 2022 by Select Art magazine. In conversation, Joyce Candeia spoke about her devotion to Orishas (deities venerated in the Yoruba cosmology and across the Afro-Atlantic diaspora), as inextricable from her art practice. The multidisciplinary artist contrasts in her sculptures, installations, and paintings, which are a candid portrayal of Afro-religious practices, with the negative demonization of racist representations in Brazilian society. Candomblé, a religion that mixes various worshipping practices from African groups, notably the Yorubas and the Bantu groups, is not detached from her living experience. The living archive of Candomblé is a lived epistemology and embodied site of learning anchored in orality and presence.

In this interconnection, her work emerges as a confrontational act against racism and misinterpretation of her beliefs. Her works present a narrative of care, beauty, and intimacy, the themes that cross her as a Black woman. She refers to the legacy of her grandfather as a reference to antiracist praxis. “While alive, he always expressed these issues and influenced many people within the militancy through his position. This inspires me a lot.”

           

 

The series Nas Mãos do Sagrado, which gave her national recognizability, depicts acts of offering through the hands of those who call upon the orixás. Candeia chose to depict these scenes on the medium offerings are prepared and settled. Exu is the first to eat. The artist explains the connection with  Eshu in this work. “When we make any request, we can’t forget to work with  Eshu too, because he is the one who carries the message. Even if I want to connect with an energy not directly his, he is still involved.” The connection unfolded during one of her regular visits to religious supply stores. Looking at the clay plates, an idea stirred her. “It was a very intuitive process,” she recalls, “I immediately visualized them as a medium. Since I like to experiment, I decided to buy some and take them home to paint.” In doing so, the artist activates the ritualistic material as discursive.

Candeia, like many artists of her generation, is very active on social media. As she shared the first painted plates online, the response was immediate. The work gained resonance with religious houses, which commissioned new pieces. The early iterations of the plates made for the sacred spaces set the tone for the later pieces that would enter the market. For Candeia, this movement from the ritual to the exhibition space was important. “It was very special. I felt connected to this work portraying these energies. It was very important to have them in these religious spaces where energies are worked before [bringing them to] the art market.”