"Roots to Fly is the most personal and introspective exhibition of my career to date—a visual poem dedicated to the child I once was. A barefoot boy who spent endless afternoons chasing butterflies and fishing along the Mearim River in Maranhão , Brazil.
That boy had no idea he would grow up to be an artist, but he carried a sense of wonder and the belief that life was meant to be extraordinary, just like the fairy tales in his books….
This exhibition explores the relationship between where we come from and the dreams that carry us forward. At its center is the Roots to Fly sculpture—a life-sized sculpture of my younger self standing at the bow of a canoe, holding a little lantern, with a mangrove tree growing from his back. It’s a visual metaphor for the journey of life, where roots ground us and dreams give us wings.
In the museum gardens, The Winged Canoe continues the journey of Roots to Fly. This six-meter indigenous vessel features ten pairs of wings, symbolizing freedom through experience, and twenty cherub wings—traditionally found in churches—lining its edges, blending the sacred with the personal. Above, a suspended network of butterflies evokes dreams and aspirations. Together, these elements create a poetic dialogue between ancestry, spirituality, and imagination, transforming the canoe into both vessel and vision.
The show also incorporates interactive and multimedia pieces like abiogenesis blending traditional materials with new technology.
Each piece invites viewers to reflect on personal growth, memory, and the quiet courage of becoming.
Roots to Fly is a journey inward as much as it is forward—a reminder that the deeper we understand our beginnings, the farther our imagination can soar."
— Rubem Robierb
