Diego Moura

“I hope the path I have managed to open can help other artists forge paths of their own.” 

- Diego Moura

Diego Moura is a 37-year-old visual artist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a degree in design. “I am self-taught as an artist, and I am a gay man who has shared his life with his husband for nearly 20 years. I grew up with three siblings and a mother who raised us on her own.” His mother painted murals, and his father was a photographer. Moura began drawing cartoons as a child, pausing Japanese cartoons on VHS to copy scenes into his sketchbooks. “Looking back, I realize that moving between the screen and the page already said a great deal about the path I would eventually follow,” he said. 

In 2015, Moura visited a Joan Miró exhibition that he credits with changing his approach to drawing. “I discovered the freedom to create characters whose eyes and mouths seem to break free from their faces, forms rooted in what I observe but given a new life through imagination. My work is intended for audiences of all ages, and I like to think that people from different generations and backgrounds can connect with it in their own way.”

Moura’s activism became more public in 2022 with The ABCs of Diversity (O Abecedário da Diversidade). “I created the exhibition to explain, through accessible images and texts, the meaning of the letters in the LGBTQIAP+ acronym.” The exhibition faced backlash in Brazil, where civic space is obstructed, after a city council member posted a video accusing it of sexualizing children. 

“The project was educational and appropriate for audiences of all ages. Less than 24 hours later, the displays were removed from the corridor and moved into a retail space without my consent. I learned about the decision from someone else. To me, that was censorship.” 

Moura also received offensive messages and threats on social media. “I became afraid to leave my home, withdrew from public life for a period, and sought psychological counseling. Professionally, a proposal for painting workshops in schools that I had been developing did not move forward, and I felt my opportunities diminish.” 

For the Emerging Creatives Program, Moura has completed the first three of the 12 new works he plans to create for this new phase of The ABCs of Diversity. “Revisiting this project has been more intense than I expected, as it brought back memories of the political attacks and online harassment I experienced in 2022. At the same time, those memories became a source of strength and helped shape these new works around affection, identity, freedom, and the right to exist fully.”

Moura hopes to take The ABCs of Diversity across Brazil and abroad. He says, “I envision the exhibition in schools, cultural centers, and public spaces, accessible to people of different ages and backgrounds. The images can spark curiosity, while the texts help audiences understand the meaning of the LGBTQIAP+ acronym. I want both elements—the art and the educational content—to remain intact wherever the exhibition goes.” 

Moura also hopes to establish an institute to support artists who lack opportunities to show their work and earn a living from it. “I know many talented people who have very few opportunities to exhibit their work, reach an audience, or turn their creative practice into a livelihood. I would like to give them the support they need to make their work visible and continue creating.” 

Moura says the cost of pursuing an artistic career is another challenge facing creatives. “I know this struggle firsthand. I did not grow up in a family with the resources to finance an artistic career, nor do I have access to elite social circles. I built my exhibitions with the money I earned working as a designer and selling my artwork. I believe in my talent and continue fighting to create space for it. I hope the path I have managed to open can help other artists forge paths of their own.”

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