Page 103 - ARTE!Brasileiros #59

the adult population deprived of liberty, as well as to the symbolic (related to the imaginary, artistic In a survey carried out by this report, 42 art [page 10]
from young people who are inmates at Fundação expressions and cultural practices) and citizen galleries that participate in the largest national fairs
casa, a work that has been going on for 15 years (culture as a right and importance in contexts of were asked if they could point out artists who were
and that now continues in a hybrid way, attending social vulnerability) dimensions - the economic ex-prisoners, represented by them and/or who had
to face-to-face visits, but also carrying out virtual dimension of culture, as a generator of growth, already exhibited or sold works at the gallery: 80% [pages 11 aND 12]
tours to the units in the countryside, which, due to employment and income. responded that they did not recognize artists with
the distance, would hardly be able to bring young such a trajectory or were not aware of such historic
people to visit the Museum in São Paulo. What coMes ahead among the represented artists and/or whose works [pages 13 to 15]
Gabriela Aidar, Coordinator of Inclusive Once released, is it possible for ex-prisoners to had already been sold by the gallery, while 20% did
Educational Programs at the Núcleo de Ação continue this stimulus – of artistic and cultural not provide an answer on the question.
Educativa, says that it is important to have a specific knowledge and production – initiated during the Although no direct link is made between this
approach so that these audiences feel “welcomed projects carried out in prison? According to the absence and the ills of the stigma imposed on
and participants in this universe because, in fact, National Penitentiary Department (DepeN), in 2014, ex-prisoners, it is opportune to question whether
at first sight it is very diverse, very different, very 75% of those incarcerated had not completed it is not past time for the market and institutions
different from what their reality is”. high school (an indicator of low income); if these to begin an active search for artists released from
“First, we establish partnerships to understand people want to continue the studies and contact the prison system or to facilitate their inclusion in
the processes that are being developed in the with art they had while they were in detention, it such spaces.
organizations of origin, so the visit to the museum is plausible to suppose that they would have to
has to dialogue in some way with what is already balance study and work, whose achievement is article MoDerNisM [pages 78 to 81]
being worked on in these places. From these even more arduous when one carries the stigma
contacts we thought of some itineraries that might such as that of ex-prisoners. MODERNISM IN HISPANIC
be of interest to the group. ‘What are we going to In the study The Challenge of the Prisoner’s Social
talk about? What are we going to show these groups Reintegration: A Survey on Prison Establishments, AMERICA
that might be relevant here at the museum?’ For published by ipea in 2015, participants were LINKED TO THE NEW THINKING, ARTISTS
each group, we build particular educational paths”, interviewed in the administration of the prison FROM ARGENTINA, MEXICO, URUGUAY
reports Aidar, reinforcing the participatory nature system, in the elaboration and execution of AND CUBA REAFFIRM A DIFFERENT WAY
of the visits, with constant dialogue: programs, projects and actions aimed at social OF INTERPRETING THE WORLD
“For those who are deprived of their liberty, being reintegration, actors in the system of justice, in
able to speak their mind, give their opinion, be heard, addition to the inmates themselves (whose identities by LeoNor aMaraNte
valued, considered, is no small thing. Freedom of are respected by the researchers, who decided to
expression, in this case, is not something secondary keep them confidential). in latin aMerica, modernity arrived belatedly
at all. These subjective impacts are very difficult to “None of the interviewees disregarded this stigma under the pressure of the new and with the desire to
measure, but, for us, they are the main ones of all surrounding prison, to which they attributed one of affirm a new aesthetic. In Europe, the modern exalts
these actions that we develop with these groups.” the main causes of criminal recidivism. Generally, the city, the phenomenon of solitude, almost as a
According to Wellington Araújo, artistic manager society did not offer space for social success for celebration of another time. Jorge Luis Borges in
of Fundação casa, “there is an undeniable the prisoner, considering him unfit to live in society, Anatomia do Meu Ultra, emphasizes that aesthetics
relationship that is established with artistic- treating him with prejudice and discrimination, is the framework of arguments built a posteriori to
cultural work, allowing the idea that making art as which generated revolt, as they considered the labels legitimize the judgments that our intuition makes
something only possible for those born with the ‘gift’ coming from outside to be unfair”, the study records. about the manifestations of art.
to be questioned. This opens possibilities, not for “I don’t want any more crime. But society is In all latitudes, modernity puts its tentacles
becoming an artist with public recognition, but for not prepared to receive an ex-prisoner. And it’s on a thought that rejects tradition; However,
the knowledge and skills immanent in artistic making hard… When we go through the system, doors architect and theorist Roberto Segre recalls: “Even
to be valid for other forms of existence in our lives”. close, especially job opportunities, they really close. if the Spaniards erased the footprints of early
Visitations, according to him, have as a first Having a criminal record is complicated, society American civilizations, by destroying temples,
step to overcome the existing symbolic barrier, doesn’t want to know”. This is the testimony of one palaces, roads, they adapted the urban grid of
allowing access to the physical space of the present of the interviewees, sentenced to a closed regime, the new time to the original layout of Tenochtitlán,
place. The visits of adolescents, mediated by the which can be complemented by the speech of an capital of the Mayans. and Cuzco, the Inca capital.
educational teams of the cultural spaces, also pass agent from the same penitentiary complex: “So, Over time, some cities that have been static for
through Itaú Cultural, Catavento, Afrobrasil Museum, can the prisoner be resocialized? He can, but for centuries begin to transform under the pressure
Mis, Mis Experience, Paço das Artes and others less him not to return to the prison system, he has to of modernity.” Latin American artists repudiate
frequently. “Contact with the unknowing is always have opportunities out there”. traditional canons and, like Europeans, extol the
enriching, it is not monochromatic, but colorful, Is it eventually possible to free yourself from city. This restlessness spreads sparks beyond
it allows for a richer observation of what was not this stigma? As Marina Dias, lawyer and executive the visual arts and reaches literature, poetry,
perceived before”, says Araújo. director of the Institute for the Defense of the architecture, music. Daily life in big cities in the
The visits, debates and workshops, aimed at the Right to Defense (iDDD) points out: “The stigma 1920s it is recorded by the modernists either in
adolescents of the casa Foundation or adults in state remains, it is very difficult to block this information, a figurative language or in an abstract language,
custody, contribute to “constructively challenge so unfortunately it is something that ends up influenced by the modernism of European artistic
and disrupt the negative identities that they had tormenting the ex-prisoners, many times, for the rest centers, passing through expressionism or, from
internalized, and which they felt were sometimes of their lives”. Even with the Criminal Rehabilitation 1923 onwards, by cubism and surrealism. Some
communicated to them from others within and process - which makes the criminal records of those artists receive financial support from their family,
outside the prison system”, as stated by Tett et who have already served their sentence confidential travel to Europe, let themselves be influenced by
al, in the research cited at the beginning of this to the civil sphere -, there are still occurrences of what they experience.
article. The authors point out, by the way, that in access to this information by entities that do not in her book Modernidade Periférica, Buenos
contemporary theories about social reintegration and concern the judicial sphere. “That’s why we need Aires 1920 and 1930 , Beatriz Sarlo, the expressive
crime desistance, contact with society is fundamental. to reflect on this machine for crushing people that Argentine intellectual, contrasts Buenos Aires
In this sense, the exhibition of their artwork and is the prison system”, she adds. authors, without dissociating life and work. In the
crafts, the performance of plays, readings of poetry Finally, the discussion on cultural policy aimed opening text: Buenos Aires, Modern City,tries to
or prose, music performances, among other public at the population deprived of liberty necessarily unravel the multifaceted world of paintings by
performances, offer people deprived of their liberty goes through the counterpart of society once these Xul Solar, an icon of Argentine art and very close
the chance to exchange with the community. individuals have served their sentence and returned to Borges. “I have always seen Xul’s paintings as
“These experiences have potential to encourage to freedom, so that they are not denied the possibility puzzles from Buenos Aires. More than his esoteric
nascent belief in the possibility of change and so of also enjoying the economic dimension of culture. intention or aesthetic freedom, I was impressed
helped to build new identities, social networks Thus, the most immediate and tangible reflection by his semiotic obsession, his hierarchical and
and contacts in which these new identities could is that agents in the art world must be demanded geometrical passion”. For her, Buenos Aires, in
be embedded. In addition these performances for, if not an involvement, at least an interest in the 20s and 30s, was the urban anchorage of astral
may help prisoners to imagine different possible artists who are passing through or who have already fantasies. Sarlo describes the Buenos Aires avant-
futures.” From this, it is valid to consider - in addition passed through the prison system. garde as the children of wealthy people, almost in
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