Editorial
Article
Diasporic routes, migratory routes
Mateus Nunes
24 Jul 2023, 4:47 pm
Beyond subjectivities and personal expressions, artistic productions are structured by cultural systems that encompass, collectively, traditions, thought systems, and ways of seeing the world. To think about Brazil is to reflect on its movements and intersections: forced diasporic flows, arrivals in search of exile, internal migrations in pursuit of dreams.
As a result of an extremely rich fabric woven by its cultural exchanges and hybridizations, contemporary Brazilian art is gradually supported by analytical devices that reexamine a Eurocentric hegemony established by colonial invasion and its successive ricochets throughout history. Brazilian routes, therefore, are migratory and diasporic routes, encompassing multiple encounters far greater than this text intends to illustrate based on the works of some artists who reaffirm Brazilian cultural diversity.
Above: Retratistas do Morro - Afonso Pimenta, "Aniversário de 6 anos da Renatinha", 1988. Courtesy of the artist
In contemplative landscapes painted on silk, Fran Chang (Millan) uses the genesis of places as a device for embracing. Bearing witness to the Taiwanese migration to Brazil, the peaceful and solitary aspects demonstrate the pains of this diaspora, escaping from misogynistic constraints and conservative sociopolitical systems. Even as she diverts from these flames, immortalized in personal and familial scars and traumas, she encounters violence again through the growing sinophobia in Brazil. In addition to reaffirming her origins on a material level – executing traditional painting techniques on translucent silk stretched over a wooden frame, on whose back she signs her name in sinograms in guóyǔ (the national language of Taiwan) – Chang portrays serene landscapes that bequeath possibilities of existence in plenitude.
Fran Chang, After Laughter Comes Tears, 2023. Courtesy of Galeria Millan - photo: Ana Pigosso
Fran Chang, Trust Won't Always be on Solid Ground, 2023. Courtesy of Galeria Millan - photo: Ana Pigosso
Drawing from the analysis of the African diaspora and the formation of Afro-Brazilian culture, Ayrson Heráclito (Paulo Darzé) focuses on the displacements between Africa and Brazil: almost all forced, in the inhumane violence of colonial enslavement and the commodification of the body; yet, there are also numerous expressions of resistance and strength, such as the revival of traditions, oral histories, and symbolic systems. The waters of the Atlantic are a living flow as they allow for the possibility of return, just like the palm oil (dendê) that composes the ancestral blood of the Afro-diasporic body. Heráclito moves as a testament to freedom and rebellion against historical constraints: in addition to his robust academic practice, he navigates between multiple artistic platforms to denounce the chains of pain and erasure, while simultaneously praising the movements of resilience, continuity, and life.
Ayrson Heráclito, Barrueco colar, 2005. Courtesy of the artist
In the fight against symbolic and historiographical inequality in Brazil, “Retratistas do Morro” – João Mendes and Afonso Pimenta (GDA) – compose an enormous and indispensable archive in the country’s photographic history. For almost 60 years, they have been capturing the day-to-day lives of the residents of the Aglomerado da Serra community in Belo Horizonte, the second-largest favela in the country, where more than 70 thousand people live. Through their photos, they depict the acuity of everyday life, capturing special occasions like weddings and graduations, as well as ordinary moments; showcasing the transformation of where they live and the Brazilian favelas over more than half a century, as well as the perpetuation of mechanisms of social disparity manifested in the formation of peripheral urban nuclei and the segregation of space occupation – open scars of the African diaspora reverberated in intranational and intraurban migrations. Mendes and Pimenta, transcending critique, immortalize moments of happiness, achievement, and celebration of emotional bonds in their community through their art.
Retratistas do Morro - João Mendes, da série Becas, 1985, Courtesy of the artist
Retratistas do Morro - João Mendes, da série Becas, 1985, Courtesy of the artist
Through the production of Cazumbá masks, Zimar (Lima Galeria) keeps alive the popular manifestation of “bumba-meu-boi,” typical of Maranhão, Brazil. These expressions embody religious and cultural syncretism, and the festivities take place during the celebration of São João, reaffirming African traditions deeply rooted in Maranhense culture. Zimar incorporates Cazumbá, a name of Bantu origin, as a masked entity adorned with colorful embroideries of African tradition and a cowbell in hand: a being that blurs the boundaries between human and animal, man and woman, scary and charming.
Zimar, Sem título, 2023, Registro fotográfico de Márcio Vasconcelos, Courtesy of Lima Galeria
Zimar, Sem título, Da série Careta de Cazumba, 2022, Courtesy of Lima Galeria
Even after new ecological agendas, the Amazon is still seen as a trading post, perpetuating colonial tools of extracting resources to convert into capital and attracting cheap labor. Dynamics of comings and goings are materialized in the work of Marcone Moreira (Arte Pará), especially in his pieces that analyze labor. In “Sinergia provisória” (2015-2023), the artist sculpts metal hooks resembling those used to support meat for storage, transportation, and display, drawing an analogy to the perforated human body stigmatized by violent practices of exploitation. Hung in sequence, like chains, the artwork delves into metalinguistic questions about the support itself and the exhibition of the work. Precisely, Moreira addresses these issues while living near Carajás, in the southeast of Pará, where the world’s largest iron ore mine is located.
Marcone Moreira, Sinergia provisória, 2015-2023, Courtesy of the artist
The practices of mining exploitation are also addressed by Luana Vitra (Mitre) through sculptures and installations. Minas Gerais, the state where the artist was born, carries the wounds of mineral extraction since the 18th century, with the looting of gold by European agents, which are still open with the industrial and steel activities in the region’s effervescent transit. The mineral elements – from stone to iron and soot – are manipulated by Vitra in the composition of artworks that reconnect her with vital stories of her own past and present individuality, recurring currents that oscillate between micro and macrocosms.
Luana Vitra, Abraçadeira 1, 2023, Courtesy of the artist
Luana Vitra, Para cauterizar a ferida é necessário aquecer a faca (Parte 2) Clavícula, 2023, Courtesy of the artist
Similar flows occurred in the central-west region in the mid-20th century with the construction of Brasília. The city absorbed tens of thousands of workers from all regions of Brazil, selling dreams of luck and prosperity with the acceleration of civil construction. Besides people, Brasília became a magnet for foreign ideas, particularly regarding architectural legacy and epistemologies of form. Despite being operated by local principles, architectural modernism maintains dynamics of exploitation and hierarchization of Eurocentric ways of living, materialized in the buildings of the country’s capital. Erika Verzutti (Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel) analyzes these migratory dynamics in the sculptures of the Brasília series (2010-2011), in which jackfruit – fruits implanted in Brazilian soil by Portuguese colonizers who brought them from India – are cut by orthogonal planes, close to the rigid geometry of Brasília’s architecture. Beyond architectural relations, Verzutti addresses the naturalistic practices of imperialism, where fauna and flora from exploited countries were dissected in precise cuts, generating descriptive plans considered as a tool of scientific control by European countries.
Erika Verzutti, Brasília, 2010, Courtesy of the artist
Erika Verzutti, Brasília TV, 2011, Courtesy of the artist
In Brazil, the formation of new nuclei of attraction and territorial occupation goes hand in hand with the expulsion and dispersal of indigenous peoples. Carmézia Emiliano (Papel Assinado) proposes reflections on her Macuxi culture: to think about integration with nature and among people should follow paths that lead not to annihilation, but to dance, rituals, and sustainable practices in relation to the land. The artist encourages and advocates for sociopolitical revisions by demonstrating ecological proposals that emphasize respect and a more responsible sense of community.
Carmézia Emiliano, Parixara, 2020, photo MASP, Eduardo Ortega
Carmézia Emiliano, Wazaká - Árvore da vida, 2022, photo MASP
Although it has been the backdrop of constant internal political crises, Brazil maintained a certain diplomatic neutrality in major international conflicts of the 20th century. For example, it received numerous European refugees from the Second World War who established traditional enclaves to preserve their cultures. In this context, Mira Schendel (Steiner), a Swiss artist of Jewish, Czechoslovakian, German, and Italian descent, immigrated to Brazil in 1949. She passionately delved into the intersections between abstraction and the relationship between image and word, overcoming the obstacle of the foreign language and bridging discussions between international art and the local context. As a citizen of the world, the artist proposes the construction of communicational dynamics based on free arrangements of linguistic elements that transcend languages.
Mira Schendel, sem título, da série Objetos gráficos, 1967, photo Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA)
Mateus Nunes (1997, Belém/PA) is a curator and researcher. He holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Lisbon and is currently pursuing postdoctoral studies in Art History and Architecture at the University of São Paulo and the Getty Foundation. He is a professor at MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo) where he teaches courses on contemporary art from the Pará region and Brazilian Baroque art. He also contributes to Brazilian and international art magazines. His main interest lies in cultural hybridities in the history of Brazilian art, particularly in the contemporary reverberations of art from the colonial period in the Amazon region, approached through the theory of image.
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