TERRITÓRIO EM DISPUTA (TERRITORY IN DISPUTE), 2023

Territory in Dispute is constituted of a mirror placed at the center of a wooden stump that was horizontally sawed and ornamented with various fragments of Portuguese tiles. On the side of the stump, which retains a significant portion of its bark, one can see a black and red Tupinambá printed pattern. 

The work is developed around the following question: "What is the impact of Portuguese colonization on our understanding of Brazilian identity?". That is, how does our country's history contribute to our idea of being Brazilians - even though such identity configures itself as manifold, conflicting and complex. It is constructed under the premise that domination also manifests through an aesthetic regime, highlighting the winning side of the cosmological clash between conquerors and natives. 

Manufactured and foreigner elements are displayed ahead, while natural and organic ones remain in the background, almost entirely hidden yet essential to the maintenance of the workpiece structure. A pattern is displayed sideways on the wood and is constituted by straight lines and black filled forms set against a red background.

The Tupinambá were a native population whom the Portuguese found when they moored on Bahia coast. Such patterns are produced by extracting ink from jenipapo and urucum, which colors are respectively bluish black and red. The pattern intends to serve as the affirmation of an indigenous identity, distinguishing ethnic specificities.

Territory in Dispute aims to complete itself by the moment the viewer contemplates the mirror, observing oneself as a central figure - physically and metaphorically - of the given narrative. It is understood that beyond geographical space, subject and subjectivity are political disputed zones.

Reference:

PAIVA, Anderson dos Santos. Arte Gráfica e Pintura Corporal Tupinambá de Olivença, 2007. Available on: <https://www.cult.ufba.br/enecult2007/AndersondosSantosPaiva.pdf>

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Territory in Dispute, 2023

Fragments of Portuguese tiles, mirror, oil and acrylic paint on wooden stump

25cm diameter x 5cm width