Page 119 - ARTE!Brasileiros #49

THE JOURNEY OF ARTIST Aline Motta looking for her roots and the vestiges of her ancestors hand black and feminist movements have gained strength and prominence, on the
is undoubtedly a personal endeavour. The result, however, concerns the collective other we see a conservative movement of strong sexist and racist profile having
memory of thousands of Brazilian families built (or destroyed) in the violent process also more and more space. How do you see this moment?
of the country’s formation, based on slavery and patriarchal structure. I hope that these conservative movements that actually attempts against life – at
“It took a while for me to acquire some maturity and psychic centering to deal with the end these are death discourses – they will turn against themselves. Realize that
issues so deep and difficult that concern my own history and family,” she says in an black culture in our country is a culture of resistance, therefore of affirming life and
interview with ARTE!Brasileiros. This maturation time included not only some early emancipation of being, through collectively lived processes. This goes in the opposite
artwork that dealt with other topics, carried out especially from the beginning of this direction of these movements of deeply individualistic, narcissistic, militarily hierarchical
decade, but also a vast trajectory as a continuist in movies, wich commenced in 2001. motivation, which do not take into account life in common.
It was from 2016, when she had the project Pontes sobre Abismos (Bridges over
Abysses) selected by Itaú Cultural’s Rumos program, that Motta, now 45, began to In your work you use different languages and supports – photography, video, text,
devote herself full-time to authorial work, with a multimedia production that did not performance, documents. I wanted you to tell a little bit how this job is going.
leave aside cinema, but also unfolded in installations, photographs, texts, publications Typically, the themes to be worked on, the supports appear first, or is each case
and performances. different from each other?
In addition to the project for Rumos, works such as (Outros) Fundamentos, [(Other) I think the works are truly interdisciplinary, bringing together various fields of study
Fundamentals], Se o Mar Tivesse Varandas (If the Sea Had Balconies), Filha Natural and artistic knowledge, reflecting my formation a little out of standards and that it
(Natural Daughter) and Jogo da Memória (Memory Game) – the latter, winner of the also does not follow a linearity. So it’s natural for me that the work unfolds into various
IMS’s ZUM scholarship and still in development – led the artist to several cities in Rio supports over a long time, which sometimes gives me the feeling that I’m building an
de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Bahia and to overseas crossings to Portugal, Serra Leoa extensive and unique job.
and Nigeria. And they deepened, in different ways, a research on Motta’s family history
and, at the same time, on African heritage in the formation of Brazil. PRIZE PIPA | PAGE 84 TO 88
Last September the artist was awarded, alongside Dalton Paula, Dora Longo Bahia,
edition. In this context, ARTE! Brasileiros talked to Motta about he trajectory and THE GAPING REALITY IN
Ismael Monticelli and Rodrigo Bueno, with the Marcantonio Vilaça Award, in its 7th
production. Read below. THE WORK BY GUERREIRO

ARTE!Brasileiros - Your work seems to have moved, over the years, more forcefully DO DIVINO AMOR
to social and political discussions. They were not absent previously, but seemed
less explicit than formal and language concerns. Does it make sense to think so?
How do you see that trajectory of yours? WINNER OF THE 2019 PIPA PRIZE, THE ARTIST HAS BEEN DEVELOPING THE
Aline Motta – Certainly discussions around racial issues were gaining body in my work SUPERFICTIONS SERIES FOR ABOUT 15 YEARS, THROUGH WHICH HE DEALS
gradually, as I felt more confident and prepared to address this issue with the rigour
and research I thought needed. This took a while before I acquired some maturity WITH PROFOUND SOCIAL AND SYMBOLIC ISSUES, FROM MEDIA MANIPULATION
and psychic centering to deal with issues so deep and difficult that concern my own TO COLONIALISM, FROM SOCIAL SEGREGATION TO THE POWER OF THE NEO-
history and family. PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES, FROM STATE VIOLENCE TO POWER OF MARKETING
Through a personal research, on family memory, you also deal with a vast universe AND MARKET
of collective memory, which has to do with historical violence in the formation of
Brazil, with slavery, with patriarchate. I wanted you to tell a little bit about this BY MARCOS GRINSPUM FERRAZ
research and what did you found out from it.
The research began based on the genealogy of my own family, in this case I am the THE SUPERFICTIONS CONCEIVED BY GUERREIRO DO DIVINO AMOR could also be called, according
result of an interracial marriage. It soon became apparent that genealogical research to himself, hyperrealistic, neorealistic or documentary. For through them, in the series
on white family members could continue ad infinitum, since many were cousins and of works entitled World Superficial Atlas, the 36-year-old Swiss-born artist based in
married each other, in line with the common arrangements in which many families Rio brings to light some of the deepest and most complex themes of our society,
of Portuguese origin were formed in Brazil. In relation to the black family, I had to both geopolitical and collective imaginary. Current - and not fictional - issues such as
look in not so obvious places, but I found, for example, plenty of documentation on political, religious, media and marketing powers, social inequalities, state violence,
slavery in Vale do Paraíba, going against the idea that these papers were burned. They and population whitening strategies.
weren’t. So it is urgent that this documentation be made visible and critical studies In videos that unfold in panels, magazines and other media, Guerreiro presents the
of iconography are done, especially that of the 19th century, so that no one else can superficial universes of each city or region in which he works, from an apocalyptic
feel the right to propagate untruths or minimize the effects of slavery in our country. perspective and the realization that we live in war. From 2005 to now have been
immersions in Brussels, Rio, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Brasilia. The artist does not
In an interview, you stated that we are a violently racist country and that few fear “call a spade a spade” when he prints in the videos, “like totems”, faces of powerful
reparatory measures have been implemented over time. To what extent would figures such as Silvio Santos, Doria, Bonner, Cunha, Malafaia and Pastor Davi Miranda.
you say that art can also play a reparatory role, whether in the sense of “doing He was even sued by Miranda’s daughter, but acquitted “in a very pretty sentence. A
justice” or on the path more of healing? relief, because today we do not know what to expect from justice”.
Perhaps a work in visual arts can awaken in a certain audience some deep connections, With a very peculiar aesthetic, strong colors and references to the internet universe,
which can lead to some understanding about personal, family and collective traumas. the artist questions the tasteful ideas and hegemonic visual patterns, sometimes
Yet it’s something restricted and the visual arts are still a very elitist field. That is, in a mocking and ironic way. With a degree in architecture in Brussels, he says he
talking about healing does not realize the complex ways of being and being in the world found the usual way of presenting projects, all a bit gray and neutral, “a nonsense.”
that we need to face on a daily basis, often embracing a series of contradictions just He preferred to resume his references from childhood and adolescence, from soap
to keep us alive or behave as expected of us. In relation to the concept of “justice”, operas and music videos to Xuxa shows - “I think pop moves the heart more, has
I am quite skeptical, since at all times we need to explain the obvious in relation to this direct and wider impact” - and deepens “the research of aesthetics as fiction,
reparatory measures such as racial quotas, for instance, and yet these few measures while observe how each social segment creates a fictional aesthetic that carries
are harshly contested. well-defined codes”.
His Atlas should now win episodes in Switzerland, “which has this perfectionary
In your works that dealing with memory, it is also remarkable the place assumed narrative of perfection”, in Italy, “in search of the roots of Christianity and fascism,
by the “gaps” and the”erasing”. How do you deal with these gaps? very important for understanding Sao Paulo and southern Brazil”, and in Mexico.
From the moment gaps arise, it is up to our imagination to create a past and a future Guerreiro was the winner of this year’s Pipa Prize, one of the most important visual
for this lack. arts prizes in the country, and was interviewed by ARTE!Brasileiros.
To what extent would you say that erasure and manipulation of history and memory ARTE!Brasileiros - To begin with, I would like to ask you where this name comes from,
are perpetrators of violence and inequalities in Brazil even today? Guerreiro do Divino Amor (Warrior of the Divine Love), and what it means to you.
The purposeful way this deletion is done daily in our society is just another factor that Guerreiro do Divino Amor - Warrior is my last name. Divino Amor was a joke that came
explains why certain families continue to send in this country since the Capitanias about when I was a teenager and my father was dating a church pastor. She wanted
Hereditárias( Hereditary Captaincies). to get me into the church, and it was a bit of a tease, I wanted to set up a heavy metal
band to act in the church. It never happened, but I really liked the name, that means
Both with regard to racism and machismo, two themes very present in your work, Warrior of the Divine Love. Then it gained many meanings linked to my work and life,
there seems to be a very complex picture in Brazilian society today. If on the one until today it represents something as my life mission.

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