![Brenda Valansi, da série Mulheres Negras Não Recebem Flores [Women of Color Don't Receive Flowers series], 2025 Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm | 19,69 x 19,69 in](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1050,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-artlogicwebsite1447/usr/images/blog_entries/main_image/items/32/3233d355e3c54eaa9adcdbc401c57fd9/25-p-abertura-exposic-a-o-direito-ao-afeto-de-panmela-castro-foto-gabriel-andrade-26.jpg)
The right to affection is also the right to health.
On International Women’s Health Day, it’s urgent to remember that health is not just the absence of illness. Health is care, attention, presence, and belonging. Yet, for Black women, affection — as a form of care — continues to be denied. We are the last to be seen, cared for, and protected, both within institutional systems and in our personal, social, and familial relationships.
The exhibition The Right to Affection emerges from this reality: a gesture that denounces the historical denial of care, while also building paths toward repair. Because living cannot be reduced to mere survival. Living must also mean being cared for, being loved, and having the right to a full, dignified existence.
This is one of the artworks featured in the exhibition “Right to Affection” at the Victor Brecheret Pavilion in Catacumba Park.
About the author
