Vik Muniz | Aftermath of Memories

Following the devastating fire at the National Museum/UFRJ in 2018, Vik Muniz created the series Museum of Ashes as an artistic response to one of the greatest cultural and scientific losses in Latin America. The project forms the core of the exhibition Aftermath of Memories, presented by the National Museum/UFRJ and the Museu Nacional Vive initiative.

 

Working with ashes and debris collected from the fire site, Muniz reconstructs lost artifacts—from Luzia, the oldest human fossil in the Americas, to objects from Egyptology, archaeology, and natural history collections. The exhibition features 11 photographs and 9 sculptures that merge art, science, and memory in a reflection on destruction, recovery, and cultural permanence.

 

Installed in the very location where the fire began, the exhibition transforms the site into a space of remembrance and reconstruction, emphasizing the symbolic act of restoring presence through absence.