Yhuri Cruz is a visual artist, writer, and playwright whose work moves between performance, sculpture, drawing, and film. His practice draws from the histories and cultural expressions of the Black diaspora in Brazil, often weaving together historical references with fiction, memory, and everyday life.
In this conversation, Cruz reflects on his ongoing series Cenas Pretofágicas (Emancipation Plays), where archival material and political histories become the basis for new narratives. Influenced by popular culture and media—from samba to telenovelas—his approach to storytelling is shaped by both personal experience and collective memory.
Across his multi-disciplinary practice, Cruz returns to the idea of the stage—not just as a literal site, but as a conceptual space for rehearsal, speculation, and possibility. “I’m always rehearsing the future play,” he says. In this way, his work invites viewers to consider how stories are shaped, who gets to tell them, and what happens when we imagine them otherwise.
