Page 90 - ARTE!Brasileiros #46

THE PLACE OF ART ENGLISH VERSION
arm of the museum’s educational department, in an unprecedented action that But I’ve always been an idealist, an activist. I was involved in day-to-day social and
changed the name of the building Boiler House of the Tate Modern to Natalie Bell, political concerns. At that time, Fernanda had a painter and Fernanda was an activist.
named after a local activist, in addition to working with a group of neighbors of the I did volunteer work. It was a division that bothered me.
Museum, which occurred for the first time in the history of the institution, which Over time I created the project “The women of there”, where I was able to synthesize
will be kept for three years. my true vocation, to bring stories into my work. I was relieved.
In lecture on Verbier, Switzerland, (see page xx), Bruguera defended what she A!B: How did you create this project?
considers the new way of understanding what is aesthetics today. To this end, she I started researching Africa and see where I could collaborate. I first went to Tanzania
separated the word in Spanish, “Est Etica”, that is, be ethical. “This is the essential at a Canadian school that taught adult women to help them create independence
question of artistic production today, take into account the context, be ethical with for their husbands or how to strengthen themselves individually and become
the other,” said the artist. She even promoted encounters between residents and economically independent in order to work. I was there for a month and a half.
people in charge of the Museum. There are several organizations I came in contact with, one based in London, ORCHID,
In Brazil, there are many artists who come seeking to create bridges with groups which impressed me a lot. They address the issue of female mutilation worldwide.
and specific communities. Some people open their workshop transforming it in a I presented my original idea: to travel, interview and paint these women and use
reception space for trans people, while others participate in activities in occupations, the sale of labor to support the work of the organization.
such as Ocupação 9 de Julho or even work with institutions such as Redes da Maré, So I went to Kenya and, unintentionally, to a region near Tanzania.
an that works with the group of favelas da Maré in Rio de Janeiro, generating actions The work is very difficult, because awareness of genital mutilation comes up against
of defense of these spaces. Are all activities that are based on a commitment to the cultural issue. Despite this being banned by the government, traditional families
social issues merged with concerns on the field of art or that has in it a trigger. The wait for the school holidays to send the girls all at the same time to do the mutilation.
Hcasa do Povo, in Bom Retiro, borough in São Paulo has been a privileged place For them, mutilation is part of the “woman’s growth.” Some women, not mutilated,
for this type of partnership. can not marry or are bullied. Mutilation is part of “being a woman.”
So when Ade Darmawan, a member of ruangrupa, States that “an artist must be It happens between the ages of 9 and 14, during which time the woman begins to
able to constantly shake the faith of the people and everything around her or him, menstruate. The custom is so ingrained that some families today do the mutilation
and contribute critically to social negotiations on existing values”, is found that at the moment the girl is born, as a way to circumvent the law, which now prohibits.
the Documents 15 will remain the best thermometer for present art or not art. In other cases the midwife herself, when an unmanaged woman is going to give
birth, maim the woman in childbirth. Imagine the fright!
Bringing light on this cultural myth imposes a very serious job. It can not ban and
RESIDENCE PIVÔ | PAGES 42 TO 44 not support education because mutilation would not be necessary in development,
ART NEEDS IDENTITY but traumatic. It is extremely complex.

A!B: You did not tell us this story, yet we were captured by your work even without it being literal.
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE AT PIVÔ RESEARCH PROGRAM, FERNANDA FEHER By force, by color. How do you explain this?
ONLY FOUND HERSELF WHEN SHE UNITED ART WITH MILITANCY My portraits are of women who discuss all this. Some are mutilated, others are
girls who came from the schools where we were to listen or collaborate and teach.
BY PATRICIA ROUSSEAUX I have an interest in telling their stories, their strength and joy, and not necessarily
showing the place where they are victims. I want to try to bring the other side into
THE PIVÔ SPACE, based in the illustrious Copan building in São Paulo downtown, my work. I like that, of them being able to see as a whole.
increasingly reinforces its commitment to encourage research and experiments I think if I painted mutilated vaginas I would not be collaborating in anything with
in art, welcoming artists, curators and researchers in programs they offer. One of this process and maybe no one would come to ask me who these women are...
them, the Research Pivot, is intended for residences offered during the year to
Brazilians or emerging foreigners, molded according to what each one is seeking,
lasting approximately three or four months each. RESIDENCE SANTÍDIO PEREIRA | PAGES 46 AND 47
have participated, promoting activities that allow important exchanges among FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS
In the almost six years since its creation, 145 artists from 20 different countries
the participants themselves, but also with external agents, be they art critics or
the public itself. In addition, the program has a series of institutional partnerships ARTIST PARTICIPATED IN A RESIDENCE IN NEW YORK AT ANNEXB, AND
that allow for valuable exchanges, such as the CPPC (Colección Patricia Phelps de WILL HAVE WORKS EXHIBITED AT THE FONDATION CARTIER IN PARIS
Cisneros), the British Council, Matadero Madrid, Centro Cultural São Paulo and ArtRio. LATER THIS YEAR
In the first residence of 2018, 13 artists were participating. They are: Adrián S. Bará,
Anna Costa e Silva, Carolina Cordeiro, Carolina Maróstica, deco adjiman, Fernanda BY THE EDITORS
Feher, Gilson Rodrigues, Leandra Espirito Santo, Maya Weishof, Renan Marcondes,
Rui Dias Monteiro, Tomaz Klotzel and Vanessa da Silva. SANTÍDIO PEREIRA was born in Curral Comprido, in Piauí, but moved to São Paulo very
ARTE!Brasileiros talked to Feher about the theme of the project that she develops early, at only 8 years of age. His interest in engraving was also quite precocious,
at Pivô: as a boy, and he began to study artistic techniques at the Achaean Institute, with
much encouragement from his mother. Standing out especially in woodcut, the
A:B When did you decide that you wanted to be an artist? young man was incorporated into the station’s artist team, where he already held
Fernanda Feher: I spent my adolescence drawing and painting, until my theater two solo exhibitions in 2016 and in 2018.
director told me: “You have to study painting”. That is how he left Brazil and studied Now 22, Santídio has drawn the attention of other artists, collectors and art
for ten years at the PRATT Institute, in Brooklyn, New York, where I established professionals for his youth and mastery of technique, which for him is a mixture
my vocation. between painting, drawing and sculpture. He has already exhibited in SESC units in

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