Waleff Dias and the Identity of Black Male Bodies

by Fábia Prates

Wed 13 Sep, 2023

When Waleff Dias, of Black and indigenous descent, was born 30 years ago, he was registered as “white” by a vital records office in Macapá, the capital of the state of Amapá, in northern Brazil. Because of that birth certificate, an important identification document, the light-skinned Black artist has referred to himself as white when asked to self-declare his race. Waleff Dias has a master’s degree in visual arts and is a doctoral student in psychology. He uses the body as an object of work from the interface of visual arts with psychology and in response to the memory of racism with art.

Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Dias heard a saying that left a profound impact on him: “Even vultures are born white”. In an appearance/performance piece named for this phrase, Waleff Dias presents his birth certificate, rubs white clay all over his body and, after it dries, uses a loofah to thoroughly and violently scrub the clay from his skin. The work was selected for the exhibition entitled Dos Brasis – Arte e Pensamento Negro (Black Art and Thought), which is dedicated exclusively to the production of Black artists. In conversation with C&AL, Dias reflects on the process of miscegenation in Brazil’s far north region: “In my work, I research the intersections of my diasporic, Afro-religious mestizo body and the unavoidable dilemmas of being a Black man, seeking other perspectives on being a Black man and of masculinities beyond the persecution offered by the West”.

Waleff Dias, "remembering that pain is not the only way to exist". Courtesy of the artist.

In academia, as part of his doctoral research, Dias looks at self-image from the ethno-racial process. In the art field, he is an interdisciplinary artist and, through appearance/performance, a concept borrowed from the South African artist Lhola Amira, he creates performance pieces, photos, installations, texts, audiovisual works and more.

“I try to recall what my ancestors went through and elaborate perishable procedures,” he says. That’s what he does in the film Lembrar que a dor não é o único jeito de existir (Remember that pain isn’t the only way of existing). In the short film, the artist investigates masculinity and his training as a man through his relationship with his father, a dark-skinned Black man. The synopsis tells us that the film is based on a dialogue with his father figure: a reminder to Black men of today’s encounter tomorrow about the absence that arose yesterday. “The film was born out of physical violence that I experienced, when I heard two phrases, ‘Being attacked made your skin more beautiful’, and the main one, ‘Who’s going to want to listen to a Black man?’” says the artist.

Waleff Dias, "remembering that pain is not the only way to exist". Courtesy of the artist.

According to him, as a Black person, even as a victim, he was automatically in the wrong in the system. “I go back to my parents’ house and find a man as quiet as I am,” says Waleff Dias. “And the film is a dialogue with my father, forging a place of existence beyond violence.”

After participating in several exhibitions, Dias, who currently lives in Rio de Janeiro, where he is studying for his doctorate, celebrates being one of the 240 artists who will exhibit their works in the exhibition Dos Brasis, but laments being the only one representing the state where he was born. “I’m super happy to be together with so many Black artists and friends who I admire, but at the same time, it’s with a funny aftertaste, being the only Black artist from Amapá,” he says.

Waleff Dias "even the vulture's children are born white," performance, 2019. Photo: Pablo Bernardo.

The exhibition, which opened in August 2023 at SESC Belenzinho in São Paulo, will tour around Brazil for ten years. Dias’s work Even Vultures Are Born White appears in the photographs by Pablo Bernardo.

One of the main premises of the Dos Brasis exhibition is to give centrality to Black thought in the field of Brazilian visual arts at different times and places. With overall curatorship by Igor Simões, the exhibition brings together works produced since the 18th century in several artistic mediums, such as painting, photography, sculpture, installations and video installations.

Waleff Dias is a PhD Candidate in Psychology and has a master’s degree in visual arts. The artist uses the body as a support for his art. In his appearances/performances he reflects on the process of miscegenation and the identity construction of Black male bodies. He lives between Amapá, in the Northern region of Brazil, where he was born, and Rio de Janeiro, where he continues his academic studies.

Fábia Prates is a journalist and writer.

Translation: Zoë Perry