Recent data supplied by reputable governmental and non-governmental research agencies support what some informed Brazilians have been saying for many years: the socio-economic situation of African-Brazilians is deplorable. In relation to whites, African-Brazilians represent 3% of the student populations at universities, earn less than 50% of what whites earn, and have a higher mortality rate among adolescents and a lower life expectancy overall. This is the context in which the artist, Maurício Pestana, has worked for more than two decades, dedicating his limitless talent and untiring efforts to the struggle against racism and social inequality.
Maurício Pestana is a Brazilian cartoonist, illustrator and writer whose work has circulated widely in Brazil and abroad. His work is powerful and often ironic, emphasizing the need for human rights and full citizenship for the so-called “minorities” in Brazil. His art has served to help raise awareness of the ways in which racism and prejudice manifest themselves in the daily lives of people in Brazil, manifestations which, for the most part, are “denied” by the majority of Brazilian citizens. Much more than cartoons, Pestana’s prolific body of work, composed of books, leaflets, posters, and illustrations, touches the very roots of the nefarious condition of the excluded in Brazil: African-Brazilians and women.
A natural-born educator, Pestana gives courses, leads workshops and acts as a consultant for schools, publishers and unions as well as public and private agencies. Pestana, the artist and the man, has worked non-stop over the years to help to contribute to people’s understanding of the complexity of race and gender relations in Brazil. He has gained renown in his own country as well as in countries in Latin America and Europe. 
In celebration of Pestana’s endless creative energy, in November 2003, an exhibition of his art, “Quotas: Bills to Pay” (“Cotas e Contas”) took place at the Ministry of Culture in Brasília. Attended by Gilberto Gil, current Brazilian Minister of Culture, the exhibition was composed of 70 pieces, mostly cartoons and posters—an example of how art can combat racism and serve to further social justice and equality for all.
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