Thaís Muniz
Radical Imagination is a multilayered screen-printed textile sculpture that constructs a visual manifesto advocating for play in adulthood and a negotiated relationship with nature as vital revolutionary acts.
The sculpture is part of Muniz’s ongoing body of work, New Atlantic Triangulations, which uses embodied cosmovisions, shaped by her Yoruba and Bantu heritage and her experience as a Brazilian woman with Irish citizenship, to explore themes of displacement, joy, and mental health. It proposes new languages, new worlds, and shared spaces of reimagination.
Inspired by the weekly communal ritual of kite runners in the Itapuã area of Salvador, Brazil, Radical Imagination highlights threats posed by private development and ecological displacement to the Abaeté area, an Afro-Indigenous sacred territory where joy and spiritual practices have thrived for centuries. This context informs the inclusion of the ecosocialist concept of Degrowth at the top of the piece, positioned above a central diagram in the form of a kite.
The reverse side integrates Druidic symbols of Sky, Land, and Sea, alongside the phrase “Play Is A Revolutionary Act”, a credo inspired by the joyful resistance of the kite runners and the scholarship of Robin D.G. Kelley. This side posits that the creativity and freedom inherent in play are essential to dreaming and building a new society. The work culminates in its foundational declaration: “Radical Imagination Cannot Be Tamed.”
ATU Wellpark Road Library
ATU Wellpark Road
Galway, H91 DY9Y
Access
Wheelchair accessible (lower level)
Accessible toilet facilities
Accessible parking
Step free (lower level)
Opening Times
4-21 November 2025
Mon-Thurs: 9.30am - 6pm
Fri: 9.30am - 5pm
Getting There
Bus: Wellpark Road stop
Free parking
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
Strange lands still bear common ground
Curated by Beulah Ezeugo
7-23 November 2025
Galway, Ireland
Photo: Ros Kavanagh