Collage as Reaffirmation of Identities

The image of the black woman occupies a privileged space in Domitila de Paulo’s canvases, for whom redefining images of Afro-Brazilians is important. “The white figure has always been presented as universal, a protagonist in positive situations. Those who do not fit into whiteness do not see themselves represented,” the artist points out. “We need to reflect on the difference between representation and representativeness. Taking action to change this logic is very important. Being in decision-making positions and in positions to rebuild these systems is crucial to make actual change,” she concludes.

Alberto Pereira: Contorting Meaning

It was through the appropriation of paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries that Alberto Pereira, of Rio, launched the series Negro Nobre (Noble Negro), in 2014, in which the faces of black cultural icons of Brazil, such as the musicians Jorge Ben Jor, Dona Ivone Lara, and Seu Jorge, figure prominently as portraits depicting the European monarchy. With the series, Pereira proposes a new narrative for images that were produced at a time when the Black man was never portrayed. It’s also about emphasizing the fundamental participation of black bodies in the construction of Brazilian popular culture. “I like to contort meaning. My aim is to dislocate seemingly unrelated elements and give them new meaning by putting them together,” said the artist. Noble Negro redefined 40 portraits with the help of image editing software and spread rapidly across social media, being reposted by artists who saw themselves unusually represented. “My aim is for it not to look like a collage, and for that purpose, the analog process ends up being limited,” acknowledges the artist.

The production of the first collages coincided with a rising awareness about racial issues in Brazil – the stimulus Pereira needed to subvert discourses with colonial undertones. That was the impetus for an image he made which, today, is well-known by those who walk the streets, not only in Brazil, but also in Lebanon, the U.S., Argentina, and Switzerland: the collage Jesus Pretinho (Black Jesus), printed on street posters and pasted onto walls and siding since 2016, questions the Eurocentric imaginary of a white-skinned Christ. “With the collage, I realized that I could create alternatives to the imposed ‘reality,’ offering other insights, retelling stories, inverting logic, and redefining certain socially imposed symbolic aspects for negritude,” says Pereira.

Moara Tupinambá: Collage as Reconnection

The work of Moara Tupinambá, of Pará, finds its inspiration in America’s indigenous populations. A descendent of the Cucuranã and Tupinambá, her collages are also a tool for activism. With the series Mirasawá – people, in the Nheengatu language – she debuted her technique of adding images. Layers of stars, planets, moons, leaves, flowers, and paintings work together to re-signify indigenous women, transforming them into figures with a mythical aura. The emphasis on the feminine arises from the desire to reconnect with ancestry and to recognize the role of women in the struggle for the rights of indigenous nations. “I use collage so that I can connect with those kinswomen. Since I did not have a family album of my ancestry, art helps me to create the connection,” says the artist.

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

The origin of the appropriations signals two phases of the series. In the first, Tupinambá uses photographs taken through a Eurocentric gaze. The work Kadiweu, for instance, proposes a re-reading of the well-known portrait of a young indigenous woman made in 1872 by the Italian Guido Boggiani: a canon of ethnographic studies about corporal graphics of the Kadiweu nation, in Brazil’s Central-West. The artist argues that thanks to the arrangement of the collage, it was possible to restore the identity of a face which, today, is associated more with anthropology than with indigenous culture.

In the second phase, we have contemporary photographs of working women in the indigenous society, taken by indigenous communities themselves. The president of Apib (Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil/Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), Sônia Guajajara, is immortalized with a mythic statue under a shower of stars. With the pandemic and the consequential restricted access to bookstores, where she gleans her primary materials for the collages from magazines and encyclopedias, Moara Tupinambá’s works started involving digital processing as well, and some were made with animation. The artist’s work is on display at the exhibition Resurgences of Amazonia! alongside Uyra Sodoma, at the Kunstraum Innsbruck, in Austria.

Anna Azevedo is a journalist, filmmaker, and scholar of visual arts with a focus on processes of re-employment of the image and decolonization in contemporary art.

Translation: Sara Hanaburgh