Last week, AS IF Magazine had the pleasure of interviewing contemporary artist Amy Sherald as part of t he second year of Lafayette 148’s #UnordinaryWomen campaign. Now, we have the privilege of art consultant and curator Maria Brito joining in on the fun with us. Brito is a highly influential figure in the art world and has worked with notable artistic talents including Kenny Scharf, Erik Parker, KAWS, and Nina Chanel.

This year, Brito became involved with #UnordinaryWomen thanks to Linda Gaunt Communication’s founder Linda Gaunt herself, who counts Lafayette 148 among her clients. Gaunt proposed Brito’s name to Lafayette 148, and Brito would later get the call that she was one of the nine unordinary women selected to be part of this year’s campaign. “This is the most unordinary year of my life, as it is for everybody” Brito said. “We started on a very positive note with this campaign, and now we’re living in a sci-fi movie.”

Despite the crazy times we are living in during the coronavirus pandemic, Brito says art still has a very important role to play in society. “This is a very important time for artists because they can create new possibilities,” Brito said. “Art is a window into a new world and new territories. Artists see realties that are going to happen. They have a very fine-tuned radar to see the future because they are so attentive and have such a high level of observation. When artists are creating and showing off what is possible, it gives us the rest of us hope and shows us what is possible. Coronavirus has really hit everything in every way from cultural actives, our health, the economy, and our freedom. Artists can dream about what is possible when this is over. For many years, the art world was on a merry go round that was spinning too fast. Artists were under pressure to create artwork around the world for art fairs and multiple collaborations. They had to serve a market. Now, the market has had to come to a semi-halt, so artists have time to create beautiful new propositions.”