Oxum
70 × 100 cm | Mixed Media with Gold Leaf | 2024
Oxum is a tribute to the spiritual power of the feminine and to the Afro-Brazilian goddess of beauty, love, fertility, and water. The central figure appears simultaneously as a real woman and an archetypal presence — silent, majestic, and imbued with profound inner authority.
The circular symbolic structure surrounding the face evokes sacred solar wheels, astrological systems, and ritual protective signs. It creates a spiritual field in which mythology, memory, and contemporary identity merge into a unified visual language. The figure’s gaze is direct and penetrating; it does not demand attention, but awareness. Here, Oxum is not portrayed as a folkloric figure, but as a universal embodiment of feminine wisdom, intuition, and creative energy.
The intense chromatic contrast — particularly between gold, red, and turquoise — generates a powerful emotional and symbolic impact. The use of gold leaf references Byzantine icon painting, elevating the figure into a timeless and almost transcendent dimension. At the same time, the geometric structure lends the composition an architectural stillness that contrasts with the sensual vitality of the portrait.
By combining sacred symbolism, cultural memory, and contemporary visual language, the work raises questions about identity, spirituality, and cultural heritage. Oxum reflects the return of the sacred within modern humanity — especially the rediscovery of feminine power as a source of healing, beauty, and inner balance.
The painting becomes a visual meditation on transformation and spiritual self-empowerment. Between myth and modernity, an iconic space emerges in which feminine energy is not merely represented, but deeply fel
