Maria Noujaim is an artist, whose work encompasses dance, notation, sculpture, film and education. The inner core of her practice is dance as a vital expression of existence itself: all living things are interconnected and dancing. Her research explores originary themes such as myths, nature forms and patterns, ecological consciousness, and epistemology.
Since 2012, she has been developing a performance work, building sculptural and symbolic choreographies amidst drawings, notations and installations. The moving body relates with the created objects and drawings, and together they construct the space. The choreographies also engender linguistic research, including different hand gestures and sign languages.
In 2021 – during the pandemic – guided by an inner urge of making a radical life change, she left São Paulo to live in the Mantiqueira mountains of Minas Gerais. There, she began giving classical dance classes to local children and co-founded Campo Escola de Movimento, a non profit organization that promotes dance as a tool for education.
In 2026, after a three-year pause from exhibiting her performance work, she is re-staging Lake, a choreography that dives into the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan and explores metamorphoses between human and animal, masculine and feminine, mortal and divine, kindness and strenght.
Maria Noujaim lives and works between Itamonte-MG and other cities.
born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1986.
graduated in Contemporary Dance from Angel Vianna Dance School and holds a PhD in Art History from PUC-Rio.
selected solo projects and shows
2022 Lake, Schwabinggrad, Munich – Germany
2021 The screen spaces | commissioned by Daata.org in collab with aarea.co | The Bass Museum, Miami – USA
2018 Restarts: four beginnings | Galeria Jaqueline Martins | São Paulo – Brasil
2017 Twist | one work, one text | curated by Daniel de Paula and Germano Dushá, São Paulo – Brasil
2016 Second ground | casamata | curated by Laura Cosendey and Luiza Crosman, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
2014 Mirror | casamata | curated by Felipe Norkus, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
selected group shows
2023
Habitar | CIFO Grants and Commissions Program Award exhibition | Museo MARCO of Contemporary Art, Monterrey, México
2022
)co | collaboration in exhibition of artist Pedro Torres | Post Brossa Program | Fundació Joan Brossa, Barcelona — Spain
2021
House of Commons | curated by Theo Mario Coppola | Momentum Biennale — Norway
2020
Poetic/ political body | curated by Fernando Mota | Galeria Portas Vilaseca, Rio de Janeiro — Brasil.
2019
Beginning of a Century | curated by Germano Dushá | Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo — Brasil
Comigo ninguém pode | curated by Mirtes de Oliveira | Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo — Brasil
The Unstable Hour | curated by Germano Dushá | Bruno Murias Gallery, Lisbon — Portugal
2018
Performance Laboratory | SESC 24 de Maio – São Paulo | with Central Saint Martins – London
2017
Where is your god now?! | curated by Germano Dushá | CHANGE-CHANGE — Budapest
2016
Lá Fora | curated by Marcelo Campos and João Paulo Quintella | Casa França-Brasil — Rio de Janeiro
awards
2020 Grants and Commissions Program Award | Cisneros Fontanals Foundation – Miami – USA
residencies
2023 selected to Jan van Eyck Academy – Maastricht – Netherlands
2022 Salta Foundation Residency – Munich – Germany
2021 Terra Saúva Residency – Botucatu – Brazil
2020 Pivô Research Residency – São Paulo – Brazil
maria noujaim 