Priscila Rooxo

Priscila Rooxo (b. 2001) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.

At only 17, Rooxo received a Painting scholarship from Rede NAMI to attend the prestigious Parque Lage School of Visual Arts. In 2021, she began studying at UERJ, while maintaining a collaboration with civic organisations and movements, including NAMI Rede Feminista de Arte Urbana.

In September 2022, the artist, one of the youngest and most promising currently working in Brazil, was awarded the FOCO Prize at ArtRio with her solo show A Mãe ta On [Mother's On].

Her work is a reflection on the territorial, gender and class issues experienced in the region she lives in, an area known for high violence and criminality rates and a lack of basic services and infrastructures. Based on an activist and critical practice, Priscila Rooxo's paintings explore themes such as poverty, maternity, social exclusion, the recognition of women's role in society, and the peripheral body and its relationship with notions of social belonging and visibility to subvert habitual cultural classifications and distinctions, namely between high and mass culture.

Rooxo's practice is visibly influenced by graffiti and the cultural manifestations commonly associated with Rio's periphery.

 In 2023, Rooxo presented her first solo exhibition, Protagonizando a Cena, at Galeria Francisco Fino. Recently, she participated in the group shows Corpos Insurgentes, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, 2023; Funk: Um grito de liberdade, Museu de Arte do Rio, 2023; Artista de Artista, Galeria Luisa Strina, 2023; Histórias Brasileiras, at MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo, among others.