In 2017, Mãe Preta travelled to Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais whose history and wealth depends the export of gold since the late 18th century. It is partly due to the extensive exploitation of gold and other minerals from this area through slave labor that led to the intensification of slavery in the early 19th century, almost doubling the amount of enslaved labourers in the mines and plantations of this state.

We researched the representation of motherhood in the 19th century press, especially the advertisements for wet nurses in local newspapers, resulting in the Ways of Reporting series. These period newspapers were found in online open access archives, and later reworked in the exhibition with the addition of optical and sacred objects highlighting the ads for wet nurses from other content, including real estate classifieds, ads for fugitive slaves, announcements for incoming exports, articles about daily occurrences, etc.

The exhibition was made possible by a grant from the Clóvis Salgado Foundation, Brazil.

(In Portuguese)
- O Estado de Minas: Artes Visuais: Olhar Crítico - 12/05/2017 (PDF)
- O Tempo - Luz sobre angústias sociais - 12/05/2017 (PDF)