Dandara Maia

Exhibitions & Projects
  1. YES WE CAN - ARTE Premiere  
  2. Linden-Museum Digital 
  3. Floating Assemblies
  4. Not Yet
  5. Osun on the moon
  6. WAXATLAS Exhibition
  7. Mapping Ankara

Publications 

About


I am a transdisciplinary researcher and curator, navigating the intersections of material culture, visual anthropology, and fashion studies. My doctoral research at the University of Bayreuth's Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence critically examines the cultural narratives embedded in wax print textiles, focusing on their materiality and African identity. Operating between Brazil and Nigeria, I investigate how these hybrid fabrics serve as carriers of Africanness despite their colonial history. I engage with identity, decoloniality, and the tensions between the modernity framework in the postcolonial contexts of Nigeria and Brazil. With a foundation in fashion design and visual arts, my work at the Iwalewahaus Museum and in curatorial practice seeks to challenge and reframe the discourse surrounding African material culture, contributing to dialogues on decolonization and critical fashion theory.

As an Afro-Brazilian, I grew up in Rio and relocated to Germany in 2019, where I am based today, to pursue my academic career. Apart from being a researcher and curator, I am the mother of little Vicente.

Ulm, Germany

CV
Contact
dandara.maia[at]uni-bayreuth.de
danda.rrra
dandaramaia

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WAXATLAS: Mapping African Prints



Iwalewahaus 2020


Curator: Dandara Maia

Watch the exhibition presentation



The exhibition sought to unfold the coexisting images that survive within wax prints. As a curator, I presented this methodology of visual analysis in an exhibition format. WAXATLAS is inspired by the work of Aby Warburg and his Bildatlas Mnemosyne. 

As in the German art historian’s work, the WAXATLAS combines pictures related to the cultural history of the fabric in panels. They depicted how the interplay of Javanese batiks, African textiles, and European art transformed wax prints’ designs. These visual elements and themes have traveled through time and reappeared in classical and new patterns produced until today.