In Search of Rainbows
Nayara Leite
Commissioned by Preus Museum (The National Museum for Photography in Norway), In Search of Rainbows investigates the situation of the queer community in north-eastern Brazil when Jair Bolsonaro was the country’s president, and how the national flag has become a symbol for the right-wing party.
Shot in Fortaleza, Brazil, in January 2022, the short film depicts my search for places that proudly displayed rainbow flags outside their premises. With the challenging political situation that dominated the country, a visible rainbow flag was a protest against the homophobic government of Bolsonaro. Through this search, I found something completely unexpected instead. In Search of Rainbows merges political views with my own experiences. My first rainbow flag was also part of the installation. By hanging the flag on a hammock hook in the exhibition room, I referred to my coming out story and how I dealt with my Catholic family.
Part of the project – my first rainbow flag, a hammock hook, stills from the film and a poem – was shown at Preus Museum for their Over Regnbuen exhibition. The short film had a special screening at Oslo Negativ in the autumn 2022 and was later selected to be part of Momentum Biennale in 2023.
Link to watch the short film: https://vimeo.com/749469178 (Password: forabolsonaro)
Nayara Leite (b. 1989) is a Brazilian artist and writer based in Bergen, Norway. She holds an MFA from the Bergen Art Academy and an MA in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography from the London College of Communication.
Nayara works across text, performance, analogue photography, film and installation. Through autobiographical narrative, political news, archival material and letters to close friends, she produces a portrayal of the reality in which the LGBTQ+ community lives in Brazil and in Norway.
She has exhibited and/or held performances at Bergen Kunsthall, Palmera, Lydgalleriet, Isotop, Bergen Kjøtt and KODE 2 in Bergen; Preus Museum in Horten; Studio 17 in Stavanger; Oslo Negativ, Kunstnerforbundet and Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo; and Momentum Biennale in Moss.