FROM OUSHA TO NORA: 3504 LUNAR CYCLES

Fabiola Chiminazzo Assumpcao 
mixed media on canvas, 60 x 60 cm

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The idea for this artwork was to understand and connect the poet Ousha Al Suwaidi, through the eyes and life of another brilliant Emirati woman whose passion and desire to reach for the moon was similar: Nora Al Matrooshi, the first female UAE astronaut born in 1993. As Ousha, Nora was a kid when she first dreamed of the moon. The painting represents the space of 3504 lunar cycles between their births; through the use of scratched lines, the artist carefully draws the number of cycles in circular movements to represent the 73 years that set apart these two powerful women. During the marking process, the tool removes the materiality of the paint, chipping the last layer of paint and leaving empty spaces that are then re-enacted with silver spots. The result is an overlapping of lines in space; the marks and silver spots are transformed in a lunar map surface. The idea was to represent the moon's topography where areas and spots carry the exact name and information from Nasa, and two spots represent both the poet's and the Astronaut's birth. The intent is to establish a visual archival of the dimensions, cycles, and spaces that speak about the strength, beauty, and simplicity that permeate the universe and the legacy these two women quietly and perseveringly built. And reflect on how their endeavors go beyond what they once thought possible.

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About the artist 

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Graduated in Visual Arts at FAAP - Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (1994). Her research includes painting, photography, printmaking, drawing, objects, installations, and video. Her work has been shown in several group exhibitions throughout Brazil, including UNICAMP - University of Campinas - São Paulo; USP - University of São Paulo - Paço das Artes 2015 -São Paulo; Centre of Arts and Culture Adamastor in Guarulhos - São Paulo. She has received Brazilian awards and prizes such as XXIII Visual Arts Exhibition Guarulhos - São Paulo -2014; VI Visual Arts Exhibition of S. José do Rio Preto - SP - 2013; IV Artistas sem Galeria Visual Arts Exhibition - São Paulo - SP - 2013; XXI Visual Arts Exhibition Atibaia - SP - 2012. She has participated in art residencies Procedência e Propriedade (Charles Watson) - Rio de Janeiro - 2012 and Cabana Extemporanea - FUNARTE - São Paulo - 2011. Some of the mentors and artists she worked with during the last ten years of her practice are Rubens Espirito Santo, Nino Cais, Carla Chaim, and Sylvia Furegatti. Chiminazzo’s work is in MACS - Museum of Contemporary Arts of Sorocaba SP - Brazil collections. She is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at NYUAD ( New York University Abu Dhabi). Since 2017, she lives and works between Brazil and Dubai, UAE.