Josely Carvalho

Josely Carvalho is a Brazilian multi-media artist and poet who lives in New York City and Rio de Janeiro. Over the past three decades, she has assembled a body of work in a wide range of media that gives eloquent voice to matters of memory, identity and social justice while challenging the boundaries between artist and audience, art and politics.

Her latest project, Diary of Smells includes olfactory and its connection to memory and emotions. Josely approaches smell through the construction of original smells (i.e. the smell of a nest), and through sculptural installations, video, photography and group scentwalks through communities. For her collaborative project, "Smell Flasks," one thousand perfume bottles were filled with visual memories of smells.

Josely has exhibited her work internationally in institutions and galleries such as: Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Galerie Drei (Dresden, Germany); Museum of Contemporary Art (Jacksonville, Florida); and the Museum of Contemporary Art (São Paulo, Brazil). She is also the recipient of several grants from foundations, including Creative Capital, New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) and New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Josely has a permanent installation, Memorial Armenia, inside the Armenia subway station in São Paulo.