Matriz, the Cariri feminist print art festival, Ceará Brazil

We need your collaboration to realize Matriz, the Cariri feminist print art festival, which will take place from May 22 to June 5 this year. This event has enormous relevance for us women artists in the region, but not only that, it is broad and of interest to many other women, because the themes we bring up go far beyond borders.

We have planned a program that includes actions in public spaces, exhibitions, workshops, etc. And we do this in a self-managed way, without sponsorship to cover all the expenses we have. On the contrary, some of the expenses are covered by our own resources. At the moment we have important local partnerships and a team of determined women who believe that what we do will make a difference, just as the first Matriz did ten years ago.

For those who don't know, our region of Cariri is in northeastern Brazil and is known, among many other things, for its popular graphic arts, which are largely made by men. And that's not because there aren't any good women printmakers here. What has happened is that, as in many other parts of the world, due to patriarchal structures, we have been made invisible or have little access to production spaces, many of us are the financial support of our families and have given up being artists to work in other jobs.

But despite all this, in Cariri we have masters of popular printmaking like Erivana Darc - one of our artists honored within the Matriz - who has dedicated 29 years to woodcuts.

We are looking for support from you and everyone else who also understands the importance of what we do, in order to cover the costs we have still open. Your contribution will make it possible for us to have the printed and promotional material we need, transportation especially for the actions we will be doing in areas that are more difficult to access, materials, speakers for our dialog tables, the rental of sound equipment and so many other things for which we still lack resources.

We've already achieved a lot through local partnerships and we've practically got a programme locked down that involves four artist residencies, workshops in woodcut, illustration, botanical drawing, non-toxic printmaking, printmaking for women's lives, urban art, various training courses in printmaking, dialogue panels on gender, violence and the graphic arts, a feminist perspective on the history of printmaking, printmaking and income alternatives and much more, as well as outings to recognize and pay homage to our native tree: the Umburana, which is what lends its wood to woodcutting and local sculpture, but which is also threatened, like its caatinga biome, by indiscriminate logging and burning. We understand feminism as the fight for equality between all human beings, for the right to life and dignity of people who position themselves or are read as women, non-binary people, a fight for access to all spaces of social life regardless of gender, race or social position and also as care and concern for nature and that is why we dedicate Matriz to our dear local masters of popular engraving and the Umburana, so that new generations learn to recognize and respect them. So that we can learn from them and move forward.

We are counting on your support so that the Matriz festival can once again make history in our region, as it did 10 years ago.