Brazilian artist Vitória Basaia will participate in Art without Borders, a collective exhibition in Rome from 9-19 September.

Oganised by curators Ligia Testa and Sandra Setti, the group show will bring together talented and creative artists at the Galleria La Pigna (Palazzo Maffei Marescotti) in the Italian capital.

Vitória Basaia is originally from Rio de Janeiro but has lived in Mato Grosso, Brazil, since 1981. She did not attend art school. Instead, the total immersion in the exuberant biomes, Cerrado, Pantanal and Amazon sculpted this alchemist. Basaia has participated in more than 50 exhibitions, salons and biennials in Brazil and abroad. Her house is a museum open to visitors.

In addition to being a painter, printmaker, conceptualist and sculptor, she has been developing research with natural pigments and recyclable materials since 1985. Since 1990, the University of Mato Grosso Brazil, programs, has disseminated her research.

In 1992, she started the Galeria do Povo (people's gallery) project to take art to the streets. She also developed another project-teaching children, and street workers, to recycle the city's garbage, giving new meaning to discarded material.

As described by painter Jean Dubuffet in the 1930s, Art Brut is rooted in the unconscious, which generates a work that emphasizes meaning and symbolism over aesthetics. That's the definition of Vitoria Basaia's work.

With continuous, almost compulsive breath, she produces images that mirror her profound bond with the sources of femininity. Her capacity to draw elements from nothing, from the most ordinary things, with which she constructs her poetics, is reminiscent of the breath and skill in unveiling the new (Art Soul Gallery).

Her works being shown in the Rome exhibition are from the series Our Lady of Pantanal (Nossa Senhora do Pantanal). All pieces will be for sale.

Galleria La Pigna is located in Palazzo Mafei Marescotti on Via della Pigna 13a, not far from the Pantheon in central Rome.