Alexandre da Cunha

Rio de Janeiro – New York – Lagos – Paris – Moscow – New Delhi – Beijing – Tokyo, 2021

Ahead of his exhibition at Brighton CCA Alexandre da Cunha was commissioned to make a new public art work for the gallery facade in the form of a banner covering the windows. In this work, titled Arch, da Cunha combined an iconic image of a black stiletto anchored within a concrete fairy cake: symbols of innocence and adulthood, indulgence and luxury, power and celebration. The work co-opts the language of advertising and consumption using the scale of the billboard hoarding; depicting its mysterious subject from multiple angles, rotating, much as we experience a display in a shop window yet without logos, price or explanation. In creating works for the public realm da Cunha is responsive to context. Grand Parade, the site of this work, was named for the processional royal route through Brighton, in the last year it has seen protests against police violence, marches in support of Black Lives and forms part of the Pride march route through the city. It is deeply connected to the act of walking. In the history of Brighton, as a centre of Pride and with a proud heritage of drag the image of the stiletto has a further resonance to the communities surrounding this work.

Arch was installed from 14 June – 30 July 2021. Following this period the work was taken down and da Cunha collaborated with milliner Noel Stewart to create a series of wearable sculptures made from the fabric of the original banner.

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