A solo exhibition titled "Gratitude" by Brazilian artist Nina Pandolfo, who represents the style of street art, has been launched at the Heydar Aliyev Center. Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva also attended the opening of the exhibition.

Addressing the opening ceremony, director of the Heydar Aliyev Center Anar Alakbarov noted that it was very important to organize such an exhibition which was needed for a long time under the pandemic conditions at the Center. Nina Pandolfo, who has been in Baku for several days now, personally joined the organization of the exposition. Moreover, the ambassador of Brazil to Azerbaijan, Manuel Adalberto Carlos Montenegro Lopes da Cruz, and CEO at JD Malat Gallery, Jean David Malat did a lot of work to orgaanize the exhibition.

Anar Alakbarov stressed that the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, had a special role in these relations, as well as the organization of such an exhibition, and extended his gratitude to her.

Speaking about the conception of the exhibition, Brazilian artist Nina Pandolfo first thanked the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, and everyone who was involved in the organization of the exhibition.

The artist said that the "Gratitude" is an exhibition which envisions everyone’s gratitude, to be more correct, it means a lifestyle.

“Gratitude is a holy sense that elevates us to a higher level. It teaches us that hard times have passed away and a beautiful light will come soon. It teaches us to share, unite and feel others. This is a feeling that brings smile to our eyes when we feel heaviness in our hearts. It creates our unique and close bonds with other people and life. I hope that all the visitors will be able to feel that the impact and strength of the characters, which represent for me not ethnicity, but the state of being a woman, lie in fragility. This is because the woman is not weak, but fragile. Weakness means absence of power, but fragility is sensitivity. It is exactly the sensitivity of the woman that gives us strength to work, support others, show care for them, in a word to do everything that a woman does”, the artist said.

Also speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the ambassador of Brazil to Azerbaijan, Manuel Adalberto Carlos Montenegro Lopes da Cruz, expressed his appreciation to the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Mehriban Aliyeva, for making this great initiative, and the Vice-President of the Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, for inviting Nina Pandolfo to Azerbaijan.

Then, the visitors toured the exhibition.

The exhibition demonstrates the works of the artist which present a multicultural world and are devoted to women of different ethnicities. The visitors can also see graffiti installations by Nina Pandolfo.

The author believes that the feeling of gratitude must always be cultivated and promoted around. It is always possible to find a reason to show gratitude no matter what the situation is. Nina Pandolfo says that the most powerful feeling of gratitude comes to her when working.

The woman characters in the works of the exhibition are depicted of different cultures and with their eyes widely open. With this, the author stresses the necessity of watching the multicultural world around us and approaching it with gratitude.

Brazilian artist Nina Pandolfo shared thoughts on her works with journalists. She said: “The essence of my exhibition is not just gratitude, but also being grateful. I want to convey this message to society. The dark room which I created as part of this exhibition has its own meaning. I want to say that if we are grateful, we will bring things from darkness and shadow into light. Everyone who enters into that room will see his or her light there”.

In his interview, Manuel Adalberto Carlos Montenegro Lopes da Cruza stressed that the organization of this exhibition in the times of the pandemic is the start of a new life, a premature spring and awakening of the wildlife. “I am very happy that a Brazilian artist has brought these feelings. As Azerbaijan is a land of fire, we have also brought here fire with our feelings. Although this is a worldly exhibition, it has some Brazilian nuances, as well. The characters in the works of the exhibition belong to different races like in Brazil”.

The Gratitude exhibition at the Heydar Aliyev Center will last until 19 June 2022.

Nina Pandolfo was born in Brazil in 1977. When studying visual communications at the State Technical School named after Carlos de Campos, Nina Pandolfo started decorating the streets of San Paolo with a new style of art. She shortly became an essential part of the graffiti scene of Brazil in the 1990s and played an unparalleled role in paving the way for graffiti art to museums and galleries.

Pandolfo participated in the exhibitions not only in Brazil, but also in many parts of the world, including those organized in different art galleries in a number of countries in Europe and the United States.

In 2007, Pandolfo collaborated with renowned street artists of Brazil to decorate the façade and tower of the 800-year-old historic Kelburn castle of Scotland. This initiative was so successful that the project was included into the list of Top-10 street art examples in 2011.