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Why Outros 500?
Gabriela Salgado
Gabriela Salgado is curator of the University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art
The celebration of the 500 years since the arrival of the Portuguese
in Brazil has unfolded two main attitudes. The official side of Brazil
500 Years turned the commemoration of an historical fact into an
overt celebration of Portuguese heritage, overlooking vast sectors of
the population of different ethnic background, among them native Brazilians.
Besides, it is interesting to note that the main core of the festivities
are taking place in Brazilian territory- thus remaining geographically
and economically bound to the country - in contrast with the 1992 celebration
of the Spanish conquest which took place in the “conquerors”
land, in Sevilla. As a reaction against this exclusion and the indiscriminate
use of public budgets, Native Organisations alongside MTS leaders walked
into the opening party in Porto Seguro to protest. The rest is history.
In calling the exhibition of Brazilian holdings in UECLAA Outros 500,
the Collection of Latin American Art and the Latin American Centre are
not pretending to be active representatives of the second attitude towards
the celebrations. However, it seemed more inclusive to name our project
Outros 500 as our intention is to shed light on issues related
to identity politics, modernity and tradition and social structures of
Brazil, intending to challenge the perceptions of folkloric bliss fueled
by the tourist visions of the country that the official celebration promotes.
In this context we have invited Oriana Baddeley and Michael Asbury from Camberwell College of Art and Brazilian artists Milton Machado and Cristina Pape to participate in a seminar at the art History department. We hope that the celebration of Brazil at the University of Essex will bring our student community and the external visitors more understanding on Brazilian culture, its world class art and its contradictory but extremely vibrant reality.
from the exhibition ...
Siron Franco, Radiografia Brasileira (Brazilian X-Ray)
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In 1996, the prominent Brazilian artist Siron Franco was invited to London to present the monograph on his work written by Dawn Ades. The presentation of the book in the Atrium bookshop in Cork Street was supported by the Brazilian Embassy in London, and Ambassador Rubens Barbosa would attend. Several days prior to his travel, the artist heard the news of a massacre of activists from the MST (Landless Movement). Siron decided to use the publicity surrounding the presentation of his book, timed to coincide with the Cork Street summer party, to present a statement of protest against the massacre.
The work, Radiografia Brasileira, is typical of Siron Franco's public installations in that it is a rapid and effective response to a buring political issue. For many years Siron has made a series of well-publicised installation to protest against social issues and political scandals. Rather than glorifying national heroes, he creates situations which force a reaction from the public, and keep an issue in the media.
In this work, the dirty clothes and blankets create a ghostly presence of the assassinated family. The Brazilian X-Ray of the title refers not only to the real X-Rays incorporated in the work, but also suggest a critical vision beneath the surface of Brazilian reality.
In the context of an officially sponsored book launch in London's West End, the artist invites us to consider different realities, and to take a position beyond the celebratory. The work itself, donated to the University of Essex collection by Charles Cosac, demands a continuous re-contextualisation each time it is presented, and is a constant reminder of the atrocities regularly committed against many citizens. For an art work, this is no small accomplishment.
(text by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro originally published in the catalogue
of Outros 500)
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