Johny Gomes Seed Awards recipient

Jota (Johny Gomes) is a visual artist born and based in Brazil. A high school student, Jota started painting during the pandemic on whatever materials he could find - cardboard, wrapping sheets, crates. He has previously exhibited his work in Arte-Rio (2020). His work as an artist portrays the reality of black young men in the unacknowledged apartheid of Brazil, based on his personal experience as a black adolescent and the favelas. He hopes to expand his practice to socio-educational projects that incentivise cultural production and development of artistic representation for the community.