Widely known by her artist name Madame Zo, Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo (1956–2020) was a major figure of the Malagasy art scene, renowned for her works that constantly blurred the boundaries between arts and craftsmanship. Trained in weaving and textile dyeing, Madame Zo drew inspiration from traditional Malagasy techniques and patterns, producing unique and distinctive abstract pieces, politically charged due to their capacity to question environmental and sociopolitical issues in Madagascar. With a conscious endeavor to rethink the limits of conventional weaving practices, Madame Zo integrated atypical and unexpected objects into her weaves, complementing the traditionally used materials such as cotton and silk. Often sourced from the quotidian, these resources, beyond their aesthetic or mere functionality, provided information on the artist’s creative process and deep engagement with her surroundings and the people that form it.

In the framework of 36th Bienal de São Paulo, a selection of her works provides in-depth insight into Madame Zo’s practice, which spanned nearly five decades. Woven with copper wires, herbs, wood, plastic, food bits, and magnetic bands, just to name a few, Madame Zo’s choice and usage of each material draws our attention to some of the particular urgencies she aimed to address. Copper, which predominantly appears in her pieces, could be read as a reference to communication technologies, but also to healing due to its capacity to conduct energies – what Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung termed the “techno-spiritual” aspects of copper in a text written on Madame Zo’s works.¹ Furthermore, materials such as herbs or paper, particularly in the form of newspaper clippings, refer to her engagement with alternative therapeutic practices and information dissemination, respectively.

In what could be perceived as a retrospective, the constellation of works presented in the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion alludes first and foremost to a retrospection – a re-contextualization of each piece, particularly as they pertain to this year’s Bienal thematic and invite us to conjugate humanity in its manifold manifestations.