Park update: From June 16 – 20, the section of the High Line from 23rd to 30th Streets will be temporarily closed. Visitors may exit at those streets and walk along 10th Avenue to re-enter the park.
Join or renew today at the Spike ($60) level or higher to get our limited-edition Dinosaur tote bag, among other exclusive member benefits!
your inbox
Sign up for the High Line newsletter for the latest updates, stories, events & more.
Rosana Paulino
The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night
Adjacent to the High Line at 22nd Street
Rosana Paulino’s practice spans drawing, painting, suture, printmaking, collage, sculpture, and installation. Her work foregrounds social, ethnic, and gender issues, taking particular care to explore the lasting legacy of slavery and the history of both racial and gender-based violence in Brazil. The artist weaves personal, scientific, and historical archives throughout her work, using these materials to demonstrate and then deconstruct violent colonial structures, particularly as they relate to Afro-Brazilian women. Taking into account the impact these archives and memories have on collective values and belief systems, Paulino examines the construction of myths—not only as an aesthetic pillar but also as a key influence on cultural consciousness.
The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night is a continuation of the artist’s mangrove series, which depicts tree-women as a mythological archetype and symbol for the Brazilian biome. Paulino notes that mangroves, like the country’s Black and Indigenous people, have been mistreated and exploited. The artist highlights the symbolic meaning inherent in this ecosystem: It is where life begins, as a home for countless species and as a blue carbon reservoir, and where life ends, due to the decomposition of the mangrove itself. In The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night, Paulino re-imagines this duality between life and death as day and night. From left to right, the color of the sky fades from daylight to a deeper, midnight hue. In lieu of gilded halos traditionally seen in European representations of holy figures, the tree-women’s heads are framed by halos resembling the sun and the moon. Similarly, the animals surrounding the goddesses also reference the transition from day to night. On the left side of the composition, Paulino depicts two diurnal birds native to the mangrove biome: the white egret and, in the tree-woman’s hands, the scarlet ibis. To her right, the other goddess holds an owl and is flanked by two bats, both of which are nocturnal. Together, these elements present a rich, new mythological framework for the mangrove, offering a departure from depictions shaped by colonization and exploitation.
Artist bio
Rosana Paulino (b. 1967, São Paulo, Brazil) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. She has held solo exhibitions at institutions including MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2024); Kunstverein Braunschweig, Brunsvique, Germany (2022); Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2019); The Frank Museum of Art – Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio (2019); Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); Clifford Art Gallery, Colgate University, New York (2018); Museu de Artes Visuais da Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil (2018); EGEAC, Lisbon, Portugal (2017); and Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Americana, São Paulo, Brazil (2013). She has participated in major international group exhibitions including O Legado Burle Marx, MAM Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2024); 35th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); The Milk of Dreams, The 59th International Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2022); Afro-Atlantic Histories, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (2022); Global Positioning, Public Art Foundation, New York, Boston, Chicago (2022); Brasilidade: Pós Modernismo, CCBB, Brazil (2022); 22nd Sydney Biennial, Sydney, Australia (2020); Carolina Maria de Jesus: um Brasil para os brasileiros, Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); 21o Bienal Sesc VideoBrazil, Sesc 24 de Maio, São Paulo, Brazil (2019); Slavery in the Hands of Harvard, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts (2019); Histórias Afro Atlânticas, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); Mulheres Negras – Obscure Beuaté Du Brésil, Espace Culturel Fort Griffon À Besançon, Besançon, France (2014). Her work is featured in the collections of major institutions around the world, including Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Museu de Artes de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; The Frank Museum of Art, Westerville, Ohio; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo; São Paulo, Brazil; Centro Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu AfroBrasil, São Paulo, Brazil; Museu Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile; Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Florida; and Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil.
Support
Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and Charina Endowment Fund.
High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Rosana Paulino’s mural, The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night, is made possible, in part, by an in-kind donation from Meadow Partners and Canvas Property Group. Painted by the team at Overall Murals.
