Page 89 - ARTE!Brasileiros #54

a person who has curated an exhibition in Madalena Schwartz: the Metamorphoses – countries, also in the 1970s and 1980s,
life and claims to be a curator”. And he goes Transvestites and transformists in the SP of reinforcing the politicized character of the
on: “I don’t see a problem, but I don’t know if the 1970s, on display until June at the Instituto show. In fact, the nine sets, which are effectively
I would surrender to these project talks.” In fact, Moreira Salles, but it is impossible not to realize militant works, basically attest to Schwartz’s
Fonseca even notes that there seems to be an how they all defend a humanization of the greatness.
important change for this professional category trans universe. The surprise here is that while Faced with questions of the Me Too
today: “I think it’s cool that people want to Goldin, a bisexual assumed, became known movement, one wonders whether a show by
be and call themselves curators. Especially worldwide by portraying basically his circle of a woman as bold as Madalena should not also
because it’s usually a profession that has a friendships at night, Schwartz (1921–1993) was have a woman curator, as happened at the Diane
ballast so elitist that I think it is very good for a a lady marked by a demure profile. Arbus (1923–1971) show at the Metropolitan
new generation, peripheral, to see that being a Born in Hungary, she migrated at the age of Museum in New York in 2016. After all, in a time
curator is a possibility. This is very empowering. 12 to Argentina. In the 1960s, with her husband of debates about representativeness, the iMS
But if in the medium and long term they will and two children, she went to live in São Paulo, could seek to understand the context, which
effectively play this role and be able to earn where the family ran a laundry in the city centre. also lacked in the opening of the show, again
a living like that, then I don’t know anymore”. Almost at the age of 50, when her son won a only with men: the curators and João Silvério
The difficulty of being a curator in Brazil, camera, she went on to attend the Foto Cine Trevisan, who incidentally had a speech that
precisely, is one of the recurring subjects in Clube Bandeirantes, which allowed her to dealt little with the artist.
most of the interviews. Fonseca regrets the develop a new career, becoming “the great This does not compromise, however, the
lack of a stable market for the area, whether lady of portraiture in our country”, as Pedro well-deserved visibility that Schwartz’s
in the public or private sector, different Karp Vasquez defined, a quote that reads on precursor work receives. The images on the
from what is seen in the United States and one of the walls of the show. panel, correctly distributed in different formats,
other countries in the first world. “There A video testimonial from Madalena, at the point out how in addition to mastering the use
is a tremendous precariousness of public very beginning of the exhibition, confirms how of light and dark in photography, a relevant
equipment, and even internally there is a huge friends and family usually describe her: a shy technical issue, she was able to reveal an
geographical asymmetry in the economy of and elegant lady, always in classic clothes. intimacy with her portrayed, which blends
culture, with many institutions concentrated His discretion, however, was no hindrance to complicity and empathy, especially those
in the southeast”. This context, he explains, his recognition. He photographed for major performed behind the scenes or in her own
results in some characteristics predominant magazines around the world and, in 1974, made home.
in the trajectory of the professionals, among his first solo at Masp, the Museum of Art of Meise’s photos, for example, reveal the
them the fact that most curators also have some São Paulo, at the invitation of his then director, fragility of the model as she transforms, still
other profession. It also turns out that most of the Italian Pietro Maria Bardi. using mirrors in the creation of doubles, a
them basically work with contemporary and The exhibition now on display politicizes composition very similar to what Nan Goldin
Brazilian art - “who in Brazil pays us to go on the work of Madalena by thematicize the trans would do in the following decade. This kind
a curatorial research trip abroad? And how to universe, an urgent issue in Brazil, marked by of image overloaded with symbologies is also
finance the arrival of an outside artist to make persecutions and murders, while the visibility seen in the series with Danton, his make-up
an exhibition here?”. of them becomes unprecedented, the case of artist of a hall on Augusta Street, especially in
Finally, with “1 curadorx, 1 hora”, Fonseca Erika Hilton, the most voted woman in the city which he is naked with his face characterized
also tries to demystify the idea of the curator of São Paulo in last year’s elections. as a woman, sitting on a stool while another boy
as a powerful figure, sometimes authoritarian. This politicization follows the line of The behind him moves, again generating a double.
“Perhaps because there are a number of people Yanomami struggle, which three years ago Danton appears in other images without
around the world who are curators in this dealt with the indigenous issue through makeup, when he is seen in a more delicate
way, this apprehension arises. But, for me, the work of photographer Claudia Andujar, and vulnerable way, which is only achieved in a
the curator is just another cultural worker. Hungarian as Madalena. However, the two portrait when in fact there is a kind of solidarity
Especially in Brazil, the figure of the powerful have very different characteristics, although between those who are portrayed and who
curator is almost fiction. What they have most in common they are brilliant photographers portrays, very similar to the complicity of the
are professionals struggling to pay their bills, and photography is an essential strategy of indigenous portrayed by Andujar.
having to negotiate all the time with spheres both in communication with the world: while More than talking about the transvestite,
of public or private power, full of unfulfilled Claudia was a militant of the indigenous cause, transformist and transgressor universe of the
plans and living by leaps and bounds”. If the Madalena never characterized her work as an 1970s, Madalena Schwartz deals with humanity
curator in Brazil is persistent, the two hundred engaged attitude. She is much more of a great more broadly and, therefore, its inclusive
interviews that Fonseca intends to conclude portraitist who, on behalf of artist friends and character: it is the same family with different
with his project seem to be proof of that. neighbors in the iconic building Copan, where individualities.
she lived, ended up also looking at this scene.
ExhiBitionS | SÃo PAUlo [PAgES 28 And 32] The exhibition, curated by Samuel Titan ExhiBitionS | SÃo PAUlo [PAgES 34 to 37]
Jr. and Gonzalo Aguilar, contextualizes
THE STRENGTH these relationships of the photographer, by THE GRACE OF FAITH
OF EMPATHY presenting an immense map of downtown São Recently presented at Pivô, Auroras
Paulo in one of the walls of the show, where
the main spaces through which Madalena and MAR, Max Wíllà Morais elaborates
Images taken by Madalena Schwartz from transited are seen: her residence in Copan, a universe based on the invisible and
the trans scene of São Paulo in the 1970s the laundry room on Nestor Pestana Street, the visible, in the ritualized rescue of his
reveal the photographer’s complicity with the head of Clube Bandeirantes, the theaters Afro-diasporic ancestry, of his syncretic
people in front of her camera of the city , among some points. religiosity and in the organization of
The Copan, incidentally, inspires the a world that gives new and sensual
By FABio CyPRiAno architecture in the space itself, since the meaning the matters on which it operates
lilac-colored panels of the exhibition discreetly
“i’ve always haD a Family, I grew up follow the sinuous shape of the building, while By ClAUdinEi RoBERto dA SilvA
protected by my grandparents,” Erika Hilton it is depicted in a series of nocturnal and quite
told the trans councilwoman Erika Hilton in the impactful images at the bottom of the room. among us, an extensive Cultural,
Roda Vida program, last February. “I’ve never On the panels are more than one hundred ideological, legislative, religious and media
had problems with my identity, in being a gay images, mostly transvestites, but also apparatus was created to justify, assist and
child”, he emphasized in his speech full of sharp performance artists such as Ney Matogrosso, guarantee the permanence of privileges of
criticism of the so-called “gender ideology”. Patrício Bisso and Elke Maravilha. that part of the population that directly or
This notion of an enlarged and welcoming And the panel divides two other indirectly benefited from them. And this, of
family was themed by photographer Madalena contextualizations: on the one hand an course, at the expense of dehumanization,
Schwartz, in a series that advances Nan Goldin’s audiovisual documentation about São Paulo the objectification of those who do not
transgressive images from the 1980s, which in the 1970s, marked by the military dictatorship participate in this group, whether they are
made her an icon of the trans underworld. and transgression at the same time; while on black, indigenous or those who demonstrate
Joining these three women in a paragraph the other hand, images of transvestite and a gender identity different from the dominant
would not be so obvious before the show transformist culture in other Latin American one. At the root of Brazilian reactionaryism,
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