“Irmandade,” an exhibition opening September 23, at the Community Artists’ Collective, represents artist Ibraim Nascimento’s search for the community and brotherhood/sisterhood which was disconnected in the Afro-diaspora during slavery.

Nascimento is an Afro-Brazilian artist from the Recôncavo region of Bahia, who has moved to Houston and continues his artist-activist links to the defense of indigenous rights in Brazil. His work has been exhibited in Brazil and the United States.

This exhibition illustrates the bond of kinship between brothers, sisters and the deeper connection between diverse people. Irmandade is the Portuguese word for brotherhood, the bond of kinship.

Using the lines of thread as an analogy for connection and reconnection, the artist connects each canvas with red thread. On the canvases are images of Black people connected to each other by blood and ancestry. Sometimes these threads signify a search for something deeper, perhaps belonging, self, a lost connection or a confirmation of the existence of this concept.

During the period of slavery Black people were connected to each other by chains and taken from their homeland, and today they reconnect in a shared gaze, customs, stories and in their collectivities and spirit. This reunion is the possibility of rebuilding the notion of “irmandade.”

The exhibition will continue at The Collective, 4101 San Jacinto, Suite 116, through November 25. The opening reception on Saturday, September 23, is from 2 to 5 p.m. with a performance by Nascimento.

The artist will deliver a talk October 14 at 2 p.m., and he and performance artist Victor Givens will collaborate on a presentation in November, date to be announced.