Direito à Sombra (The Right to Shade) investigates the relationship between heat, solar incidence, and urban inequality in Fortaleza, where access to shade directly relates to existing lines of social vulnerability. What began as a technical inquiry into designing a custom clay cobogó (a traditional perforated Brazilian brick) shifted into something more revelatory: the recognition that trees are themselves ancestral technologies of shade and care. This conceptual turn from fabrication to observation traverses Nagem’s project and interlinked outcomes (a digital interface, a game installation, and a series of data paintings), underscoring the potential of technology as a relational and ecological practice, and suggesting that the most sophisticated response to urban heat may already be rooted in the ground beneath our feet.

Mari Nagem is a Brazilian-born interdisciplinary artist exploring digital culture’s relationship with nature. Navigating different media, using luminous colors and sharpened edges, Nagem creates works that enlighten our perception of critical aspects of the information age, such as the artificiality of landscapes and the climate crisis. Her work has been exhibited in a solo exhibition at Galeria Lume (São Paulo), at institutions such as SESC, MIS-SP, Oi Futuro, the Sea Foundation (Netherlands), as well as in Southern American biennials like Bienal Sur (Argentina) and the Digital Art Biennial (São Paulo), and festivals including Die Digitale Düsseldorf, FILE and the Athens Art Festival. Holds an MFA from HEAD-Genève, and lives between New York and Brazil.