On the 16^th of April, an exhibition of contemporary paper art from Brazil was opened at the San Stefano Gallery in Sofia.

It is organized within the framework of Sofia Paper Art Fest, whose 10^th edition is currently under the title "Global World" and is part of the Calendar of Cultural Events of Sofia Municipality. Founder and chief organizer of the festival is the Amateras Foundation. Co-organizers of the exhibition "Ten Artists. Ten Visions" are the Embassy of Brazil in Bulgaria, San Stefano Gallery and the Bulgarian-Brazilian Cultural Institute. The event was officially opened by H. E. Ms. Anna Maria Sampaio Fernandes, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Republic of Bulgaria, in the presence of a large audience.

A brief prehistory. The exhibition "Ten Artists. Ten Visions" is a joint curatorial project of Daniela Todorova, Angela Barbour and Eliana Anghinah, whose collaboration started in 2017 and aims at a cultural exchange between the two countries. In 2017 and 2018 in Sao Paolo and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, two big exhibitions have been shown, and in Bulgaria - two independent projects within SOFIA PAPER ART FEST 2017. The three artists are curators and members of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists /IAPMA/ and know the global trends in this art form very well.

For the exhibition.  The selected artists, who primarily work in Sao Paolo and Belo Horizonte, are very different in their artistic searches, but are united by the medium – the paper. There is a large spectrum of techniques – from objects in hand-made paper to collages, engravings, paintings, monotypes, etc. What is specific for the entire collection is the lively presence of colour, in unison with the bright character of Brazil and its picturesque nature, printed on the sensitivity of the artists. Plot-wise, the works primarily show nature with its flora and fauna, but some of the artists retain the silent but vivid language of abstract art. This is a small sample of the different trends in contemporary Brazilian paper art, which is a very new idea in this vast and intriguing culture, known for its music and performance genres, but hardly known in visual art.

The participating artists are: Ângela Barbour, Catharina Suleiman, Cildo Oliveira, Eliana Anghinah, Hugo Fortes, Jacqueline Aronis, Nori Figueiredo, Patricia Figueiredo, Regina Carmona and Rodrigo Lobo.

At the opening of the exhibition the special issue of Europe 2001 magazine, dedicated to Brazil, was also presented.

The Amateras Foundation is already a representative of the Bulgarian-Brazilian Cultural Institute, initiated jointly by the Brazilian partners in Anapolis, Goyas, in 2018. This is the first initiative of the Institute in Bulgaria, followed by an exhibition with presentations in Anapolis and Pirenopolis, Brazil, in June 2019. The aim of the Bulgarian-Brazilian Cultural Institute is the long term exchange of all arts.

The material is provided by the Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil in the Republic of Bulgaria.

In the picture above: H. E. Ms. Anna Maria Sampaio Fernandes opens the exhibition "Ten artists. Ten Visions", together with Assoc. Prof. Todor Chobanov, Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality in the field of Culture, Education, Sport and Prevention of Addictions, Ms. Daniela Todorova, President of the Amatera Foundation and Ms. Veneta Genkova, Editor-in-Chief of the "Europe 2001" Magazine.