Black Lights is the product of over 5800 hours of research, illustration, and curatorial work, executed in tandem with the black community for a final result that has authenticity and legitimacy at its core.

In this sense, each aesthetic decision was an opportunity to hone and deepen the main idea: ERASED STORIES were told in the form of an entire book printed with INVISIBLE INK. The BLACK LIGHT is the main form of recovering and illuminating BLACK HISTORY. The TYPOGRAPHY is a narrative element, reinforcing that something is MISSING. And the ILLUSTRATIONS highlight ANCESTRALITY AND POWER.

Brazil, the country with the second-largest black population in the world and the largest outside the African continent, is also a country where black people are relegated to erasure: they make up 80% of violent deaths and 70% of school dropouts. That’s a problem that affects the past, jeopardizes the future, and has been carried out deliberately and systematically throughout our past.

While black people have made major contributions to any number of fields, their stories are often left out of the official narrative. And that means that many people never learn the names of the black inventors, scientists, philosophers, and other geniuses who changed the course of humanity. By shedding light on their achievements and contributions, this project seeks to fill that lacuna in history.

Since history is one of the greatest heritages of humanity, Bradesco Seguros, the leading insurance company in Brazil and Latin America, developed Black Lights. A project dedicated not only to recovering black culture and historical heritage erased by racism, but also designed to be an inspirational force for the future. The project was developed with Project Goma, a hub dedicated to accelerating the careers of black professionals, and resonates with the movements calling for systemic antiracist change, and Museu Afro-Brasileiro in Salvador, a crowning symbol of its relevance, legitimacy, and the importance of the preservation and celebration of black culture in the city with the largest black population outside of Africa.The project was invited to become part of the permanent collection of the Museum.

• Situation

Brazil, the country with the largest black population outside the African continent, is also a country where black people are relegated to erasure: they make up 80% of violent deaths and 70% of school dropouts. A problem that dates back to the dawn of humanity,violates the constitutional right to memory and robs an entire people of their most precious possession: their history.

• Brief

Bradesco Seguros, the leading insurance company in Brazil and America Latina,believes that people's history is a precious heritage that must be secured. So,how can Bradesco help to recover and protect Black History (which is everybody's history) in order to recover the past and inspire the future?

• Objectives

- CELEBRATE the names of notable black people ignored by history.

- SHOW that historical erasure is a product of racism.

- INSPIRE future generations and grab people's attention.

- COLLABORATE with partners from black communities.

The art direction was designed to communicate two narratives at once: erasure and brilliance, obscurity and resurgence, racism and pride. At first glance, the art direction underscores the erasure to which black stories have been subject, with white letters and gaps in the formatting that suggest a lack of content, representing the names and stories that have been suppressed over the course of history. Under black light, the art direction reveals not only the narratives and profiles of black luminaries, but it also highlights the rich ancestral legacy and the power of trajectories once relegated to oblivion. The pages brim with color, revealing the illustrations and other elements that came out of 5800+ hours of research and curatorial work, developed with a team of black artists.