Dalton Paula at Sertão Negro

Lisson Gallery is pleased to present its debut solo exhibition 'Infâncias Negras' with acclaimed Brazilian artist Dalton Paula, featuring a powerful new body of work that reclaims and re-centers Black childhoods as vital spaces of joy, memory, resilience, and cultural continuity. Marking a significant expansion of his practice, Paula moves beyond his celebrated portraiture to create vivid, narrative-filled compositions that depict moments of play, ritual, celebration, and communal life—each rendered against his signature blue-green backgrounds, a visual nod to Brazil’s tradition of studio portraiture.

Sertão Negro was founded by Brazilian artist Dalton Paula and scholar Ceiça Ferreira as a centre for artistic practice, environmental care, and collective learning, located in the Cerrado biome in central Brazil. Rooted in a dialogue with the quilombo traditions of the Território Kalunga, Sertão Negro honors ancestral ways of living and resisting, weaving these histories into its vision of cultural and ecological sovereignty.

'Dalton Paula: Infâncias Negras' is on view at Lisson Gallery London from 11 September – 18 October 2025.

Directed by Urânia Munzanzu for ACARAJÉ Productions.