GAL CIPRESTE & RODRIGO MASINA PINHEIRO

Rodrigo Masina Pinheiro, born 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Gal Cipreste Marinelli, born 1998 in São Gonçalo, Brazil.
Live and work in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rodrigo Masina Pinheiro is a visual artist and educator born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. They uses various mediums in their work, such as photography, film essays and literature. Their research addresses LGBT+ childhood and the ontologies of the gender-disobedient body despite heterosexist regimes, incarcerated subjectivities and the various processes of narrative mutilation.
Gal Cipreste Marinelli is a trans non-binary visual artist, musician and photographer, born in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro. Their research addresses themes such as the inauguration of gender narratives, the fictionalization of reality and monstrosity. Rodrigo Masina Pinheiro and they have been awarded with the PH MUSEUM 2021 Photography Grant.

AS PART OF THE LOUIS ROEDERER DISCOVERY AWARD
PRESENTED BY
ATELIÊ ORIENTE, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

GAL CIPRESTE MARINELLI & RODRIGO MASINA PINHEIRO

GH. GAL AND HIROSHIMA

G and H are the initials of artist duo Gal (Marinelli Cipreste) and Hiroshima (Rodrigo Masina Pinheiro). Rodrigo, who owes her Japanese nickname to the fact that she has an appearance between genres, survived being stoned as a child for having asserted her non-standard identity. Gal is trans herself. Together, they fight to free their pasts from shame, and proudly choose life in a country where violence against the LGBTQIA+ people is still taking its toll. The duo uses the symbolic power of images to ward off trauma, finding a balance between the finesse of the story and the violence of the subject. In the series GH. Gal & Hiroshima, amidst a constellation of objects and gestures, a high heel shoe, symbol of a supposed “femininity”, becomes recurring evidence for the crime of not performing one’s assigned gender.