Interview with Luciano Oliveira
Marina Oliveira Barbosa: Luciano, please feel free to introduce yourself.
Luciano Santos de Oliveira: My name is Luciano Santos de Oliveira. I have a background in product design, I am a craftsman, and I also work with painting on canvas. I am a self-taught artist from Bahia, living in the city of Salvador, Bahia.
Marina Oliveira Barbosa: I am always curious about artists' childhoods, can you tell me a bit about yours?
Luciano Santos de Oliveira: I grew up having a lot of responsibility, but I also played a lot.I had the responsibilities that my mother gave me from an early age. In other words, I had to do chores, especially around the house. But she also gave me chances for leisure, and during this time of leisure I played a lot— running, tag, with clay, these childhood things... I played with marbles, balls, which nowadays we don't see anymore, right? But it was a childhood of a lot of responsibility and at the same time fun. There was a good time for leisure, but there was also a lot of responsibility.
Marina Oliveira Barbosa: Can you tell us a bit about your artistic work?
Luciano Santos de Oliveira: The art I do is very wide-ranging. As well as embroidering on various types of stitches, I paint pictures, create themed pieces and also work in the decoration area. I also make trousseau’s for babies and other things.
Marina Oliveira Barbosa: Luciano, I am amazed by your sewing work. Your lace is enchanting. We talked a bit about the “art of dressing”. I'd like to hear how you see sewing in the world of art, and how you work specifically with stitches that bring the strength of axè.
Luciano Santos de Oliveira: Sewing is very important to me and you have to like, really like what you do, because if you like what you do, you do a good job. You do quality work. I really like sewing. I really like embroidery. I'm immersed in everything that has always appealed to me. These are things that have always appealed to me from childhood until today, and I really enjoy what I do. I have a lot of love for it, and I believe that all this love is contained and can be seen in the pieces I make.
It's important to point out here that the sewing I do and create requires some different rules or structures. Nothing I touch can be done without foresight. In other words, for me to make a certain piece I can't start dating and make the piece, everyone has their own time, nor can I have certain types of relationships during this period, so I respect that.
Just as I respect the orixá of the people who commission work from me, I also respect my orixá. I have to respect the other person's orixá, and no matter what the other person does, I have to respect it and do my part. So, when I pick up this piece of fabric, I concentrate on what I'm doing, and with reverence because I'm not sewing for a person, I'm sewing for an orixá, I'm sewing for Ogum, I'm sewing for Omolú, I'm sewing for Oxum.
I can't just sit down and make a piece like that. The ancestors and elders to this day know that the pieces used for the orixá have axé. And when the person incorporates, no person, no material, can be washed. They are placed in the sun, because there is the issue of sweat, which is what triggers the axé. Now, there are white garments that need to be washed, but garments with prints and colors that can be placed in the sun are placed on a mat to sunbathe all day so that no water gets on them. It's important to emphasize that when it's pure white, which gets dirty more easily, it's a different matter. So you can see the respect even in the Orixá's clothes. In other words, they have to be treated with a lot of respect.
Marina Oliveira Barbosa: What has your work been like as a couture artist, I mean someone who sews with emotion and energy?
Luciano Santos de Oliveira: Look, it was and is a lot of responsibility. Embroidery is an art and has a history that is part of art history. It needs to be recognized as such. I present a doll in order to explain each cloth, item, and its separations from the garment, so it's a way of presenting good work, explaining the details, because when we talk about religious garments, it's essential to understand all the details. It's a job that requires respect, time and care, precisely because it involves energy and spirituality. The conception and connection for creating the garment comes from the axé and the respect dedicated to it. Affect is in the feeling of each line, present, but it can be invisible even to the eye.
Marina Oliveira Barbosa: To finish off, can you tell me about your musical tastes?
What do you listen to?
Luciano Santos de Oliveira: I like MPB a lot, Vanessa da Mata, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, all those guys. But when it comes to axé songs, I love them ALL, they have an important feeling for me, you know? I can't say which is the most beautiful, I really like Ogum's songs, but choosing one is difficult because each one has its own strengths and so it's hard for me to say. I like some songs that revere people who are already babás (babalorixá), and at the same time bring spirituality in the manifestation of their children of the house, which is like a precious crown of good messages. Each one has a story, an important moment in the life of the person who is initiated into Axé.
Interview by Marina Oliveira Barbosa for the Digital Brazil Project.
