In this period she kept in touch with the couple Arpad Szenes and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, with Milton Dacosta, Carlos Scliar, and others living in Santa Teresa and attending the art world.

She had contact with the artists Carlos Scliar, Milton Dacosta, Árpád Szenes, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Jean-Pierre Chabloz, regulars of the pension, which provided a stimulating environment and eventually led to her exhibition at the 48th National Salon of Fine Arts in 1942.

Back in Brazil, she created the Candomblé mural for the residence of the writer Jorge Amado, in Salvador, and a panel for the Liceu Municipal de Petropolis.

Back to Rio de Janeiro, she was one of the leaders of the Salão Preto e Branco movement, an artists' protest against the high prices of the painting material.

In the 1970s, she went to the Santa Catarina coal mines to experience closely the miners' lives, and traveled to Itabira, Minas Gerais to see the iron extraction service.

As pointed out by the art critic Mário Pedrosa (1900-1981), Djanira is an artist who does not improvise and, although they have a naive and instinctive appearance, her works are the result of careful preparation.