CONCEPT | "OPEN HEARTED" is an original artwork, handmade by artist Lucas Belchior, born from the music of the Brazilian band "Vanguart." It brings vulnerability to the forefront as an act of courage, surrender, and the possibility of living without the need to protect oneself.
In Rio de Janeiro, there is a strange sensation present in the carioca body of always being hyper-alert to everything. Our peripheral, Black, Indigenous, racialized body, seen as "on the fringes," learns to perceive life with full awareness: the movement around us, the gaze of the other, the street, the weather. The artwork imagines a possibility of life where we can learn to counter this defense mechanism we were taught: allowing ourselves to let our guard down, breathe, yearn, and feel without fear. Exercising our right to close our eyes and open our chests—as an ode to Brazilian life.
Vulnerability, which we were taught to view as a weakness, is what allows us to experience life to the fullest, in a truly carioca way. Opening one's chest is also a political act—a refusal of fear, of control, and of the need to become hardened just to exist.
The figure appears in motion, with an exposed body and open arms, like someone who chooses not to back down—affirming the revolutionary wisdom of our ancestors to survive and face whatever comes.
The yellow that fills the background acts as a chromatic counterpoint to the shadow of historical trauma addressed by the artist. It is the warmth that melts the psychic armor of habitual hyper-vigilance; it is the insistence on living deeply. The Brazilian people live hand in hand with excess because tomorrow has always been an uncertain promise. Therefore, the exaltation of life, beyond what some believe to be exaggeration, is a sociological mechanism of collective healing.
By evoking the sea of Bahia within the carioca landscape, bringing forth the existence of our connection in time, space, and spirituality, the artwork operates as a therapeutic and political rescue: there is an invisible line connecting the carioca asphalt to the Bahian sea, carrying an ancestral heritage of those who learned to transform daily struggle into affection, music, and presence.
Opening one's chest to the world is our greatest inheritance. It is our most beautiful revolution. Open chest. Present body. An ode to being alive.
DETAILS | Original and limited edition artwork, handmade using India ink and oil pastel on 300g slightly textured couché paper. The textured surface brings elegance to the piece and enhances the contrast between the stroke, the intense yellow, and the gentleness of the gesture.
SIZE A4 — (21 cm × 29.7 cm)
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