By Everton Barreiro

February 24, 2021

Introduction

Brazil, the untold story - is an ongoing international and independent cultural project that aims to reframe the dialogue around themes and issues relating to African-Brazilian cultures. It is a platform for furthering a conversation about the intellectual, cultural and artistic production by Black Brazilians, which have been historically neglected, stereotyped or appropriated. Produced, directed and curated by EB, these films and images focus on African-Brazilian intellectual, cultural, artistic and historiographic production. Despite 56% of Brazil’s population identifying as Black or as being of African descent, these Black voices, histories, or life stories, have barely gained prominence in the country’s media, academia, politics, advertisements, cultural institutions, art galleries, the judiciary, corporate boardrooms and other places of power. In fact, many times, or too many times, African-Brazilian histories and life stories have been told, albeit by white intellectuals, journalists, academics, broadcasters, producers, curators and gallerists. It is often an unidimensional, misguided and dehumanising portrayal of Brazilian Black lives, too often ignoring and neglecting the achievements made by African-Brazilian communities, intellectuals and artists and their immense contributions to the construction of Brazil as a nation. 

By no means this project intends to repeat the same mistake, as it does not aim to examine African-Brazilian histories or tell the stories of Black lives from the perspective of another white man. It would be too much of white narcissism. On the contrary, this project seeks to celebrate the stories and works by Black Brazilians, whose practices have contributed to enhancing this important dialogue. Thus this platform is bringing to the forefront the Black voices of five major contributing-guests who have enormously supported this endeavour by subjectively discussing their own histories, work practices and beliefs. It is an immense honour to present these five illustrious African-Brazilian guests and contributors to Brazil, the untold story: Djamila Ribeiro - political philosopher, author, columnist, professor, Black feminist activist; Alba Cristina Soares Ya Darabi - actress, artist, ialorixá (female priest) of the candomblé religion; Maxwell Alexandre - visual artist; Dr Rodney William - social scientist, anthropologist, author, columnist, babalorixá (male priest) of the candomblé religion; Carlinhos Brown - singer, musician, songwriter, performer, multidisciplinary artist. 

As part of this project’s programme, five films have been produced in Brazil during the course of 2020, each one of them representing the identities, lives, and artistic and intellectual practices of each of the internationally-renowned contributing-guests, across different geographies of Brazil. This project started to be envisaged by myself in March 2020, before Black civil rights movements, such as Black Lives Matter, came out on to the streets of Western cities to protest against systemic racism and violence sparked by the despicable murder of an African-American, George Floyd, by a white police officer in the United States. 2020 has been the year in which the world had to begin to cope with a devastating pandemic, which has taken by now over 100.000 lives in Britain and hundreds of thousands of lives both in the United States and Brazil. With Black lives disproportionately burdened by the cost of the pandemic more than white lives due to poorer living standards, health and working conditions among Black communities in these three countries, according to statistics reported by the press. Therefore 2020 was an incredibly challenging year to produce and direct five films in Brazil, while working from London, which could only happen with the extraordinary hard work and efforts made by my teams of collaborators who greatly contributed to this huge endeavour in three Brazilian states: Bahia, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It is important to stress that all teams of collaborators across Brazil took all the appropriate health and safety measures that were required to shoot the five films.

By no means African-Brazilian peoples and cultures are homogenous - just as this particular group of contributing-guests does not represent the entirety of Black communities in Brazil. Although Djamila Ribeiro, Alba Darabi, Maxwell Alexandre, Dr Rodney William and Carlinhos Brown have their unique life stories and career trajectories, each of their own life achievements and experiences are connected by a spirit of resilience, resistance, perseverance, determination, hard work and commitment. These five films - a combination of video art, interviews, documentaries and art performances have the ambition to demonstrate to the global North that the Black peoples of the global South, in this particular case Brazil, have produced outstanding cultural, artistic and intellectual work, although these outputs have not been consumed by the so-called ‘developed world’ as they should have been, which is disappointing.

Notwithstanding all five Black contributing-guests have been to the global North, showing their intellectual, cultural and artistic productions several times, the viewers and readers of their work both in Europe and North America are yet to truly decolonise and deconstruct their Eurocentric perspectives of history and of the global South. 

Often white people from the global North have looked to the African-American context, searching for stories of brutal reality, or success, in the Black communities of the United States. Thus it is imperative that this cultural project contributes to building bridges of dialogue between the North and South of the globe on equal terms, moving away from stereotypical knowledge, cultural appropriation, systemic racist practices, arrogance and ignorance. It is hoped that by engaging with these five films and contributing-guests, the spectator is able to critically question Eurocentric notions of history by decolonising their knowledge, whilst learning about the perspectives of the global South, from the points of view of African-Brazilians. It is crucial to communicate that throughout the process of filming last year, that the internationally-renowned contributing-guests and most professionals collaborating in this project such as photography directors, videographers, editors, photographers, the translator, photography and production assistants are Black people, just as most of the voices that have greatly informed and enlightened this project essay’s bibliography. 

Historical and Contemporary Context

Before presenting the five contributing-guests and films, the reader and spectator should reckon with one crucial fact: for African-Brazilians to aspire to live a life with dignity, economic security, safety and recognition in Brazil is a tremendous effort and risk. This work would be incomplete if it neglected some of the historical and contemporary backgrounds that have helped to define the realities in which 56% of Brazil’s Black and brown women and men have lived. Brazil was the last country to abolish Black slavery in the world (1888), however, formerly enslaved Africans and African-Brazilians at the time were not given any access to housing, education or professional training, public health or support after their release into the unknown. 

After almost 400 years of a brutal colonial and imperial slavery regime which oversaw 12 million Black bodies being commoditised, poorly and violently transported on mercantile ships from Africa’s coastal areas to Brazil’s coastal cities, with approximately 2 million Black lives lost during the Atlantic naval crossings throughout the slavery period, African-Brazilian lives still, conscious or unconsciously, have to deal with the emotional and psychological ancestral trauma of this historical fact. 

In her book entitled, Interseccionalidade (Intersectionality) by the African-Brazilian female author, Carla Akotirene - a doctorate student of interdisciplinary studies of gender, women and feminisms - published as part of the Feminismos Plurais label (Plural Feminisms) coordinated by Djamila Ribeiro - Akotirene profoundly and compellingly captures the ancestral feelings of the deep trauma experienced by many Black Brazilian women and men, 

‘It is appropriate to decolonise hegemonic perspectives about the theory of intersectionality and to adopt the Atlantic as the locus of crossed oppressions, as I believe that this territory of waters translate, fundamentally, history and forced migration of African women and men. Beyond this, waters, heal colonial wounds, manifested in the ethnicities trafficked as commodities, in the drowned cultures, in the identity binaries, in the human and non-human counterparts. In the Atlantic Sea we have the knowledge of a salty memory of slavery, and the ancestral energies protest tears upon the ocean.’ (1)

It becomes even clearer to understand such feelings of trauma historically endured by Black communities, whilst confronted with some of the works by European intellectuals of the nineteenth century. Many philosophers, social scientists, anthropologists, politicians of the period would have considered all Black and brown populations from Africa and Asia biologically inferior, guided by the white supremacist highly-flawed theory of eugenics. Mixed-race peoples were thus categorised as degenerate. The Black Brazilian lawyer, philosopher and professor, Dr Silvio Almeida, who has a post-doctorate from Universidade de São Paulo, currently teaching at many universities, including at Duke University in the United States, eloquently expands upon some of the white supremacist theories that were deeply embedded in the psyche of Europe’s intelligentsia in the nineteenth century.

‘Biology and physics served as models to explain human diversity: it appears the idea that biological characteristics - biological determinism - or climate and/or environmental conditions - geographic determinism - would be able to explain moral, psychological and intellectual differences between races. Therefore, the non-white skin and the tropical climate would favour the appearance of “immoral behaviours”, lustful and violent, in addition to indicate “little intelligence”. Precisely due to this reason, Arthur de Gobineau recommended to avoid “racial mixings”, because the mixed-race individual tended to be the most “degenerate”. This kind of rationale, identified as scientific racism obtained enormous repercussion and popularity in the academic and political circles of the nineteenth century, as demonstrated beyond the works by Arthur de Gobineau, such as in the works by Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, and, in Brazil, Silvio Romero and Raimundo Nina Rodrigues.’ (2)

This white supremacist thinking would have been the norm in the nineteenth century as demonstrated by Silvio Almeida. The author mentions in his book, Racismo Estrutural (Structural Racism) - also published as part of the Feminismos Plurais label - that the celebrated nineteenth century German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, whose ideas and theories are still cited and widely discussed in Western academia, once said about Africans, ‘that they had no history, who were bestial, taken by ferocity and superstition.’ Despite the theories relating to eugenics being widely discredited across the Western world, including in Brazil, in the first half of the twentieth century, such racist and ignorant ideas have somehow perpetuated in the unconscious of white Europeans, North Americans and Brazilians, and have contributed to create and reinforce, in my view, systemic racism. 

The lack of a deep understanding of African and African-Brazilian histories, from the perspective of contemporary Africans and African-Brazilians, combined with a poor knowledge of the legacy of slavery, have created significant ignorance amongst many white Europeans and Brazilians. It is also important to acknowledge that in the nineteenth century many sons and daughters of Brazil’s economic and intellectual elites would have brought back these white supremacist theories after returning from being privately educated in Europe. Brazil’s economic elites, mainly white, who would have suffered from a complex of inferiority, in relation to Europe’s white elites, caused by a feeling of rejection and embarrassment of the Black, brown and native indigenous populations of Brazil, felt compelled to adopt some of these utterly unfounded and racist theories. I argue that this complex of inferiority and unconscious feeling of rejection and hatred directed to African-Brazilians still resonates amongst many within the nation’s contemporary economic elite, bourgeois and middle classes. The current neofascist politics of many white Brazilians reflect these racist feelings and ignorant thinking. 

Not to mention the historical fact that, after the abolition of slavery in the late nineteenth century, the Brazilian State deliberately preferred to open the country’s doors to white European migrants to work in agriculture. This policy was made official and openly enhanced in the 1920s by the state of São Paulo, Brazil’s first industrialised state, which sought to ‘whiten’ its workforce for the new manufacturers by implementing the, branqueamento, or whitening policy, as a result white European migrant workers, particularly Italians, were preferred to African-Brazilian people. Yet again, Brazil’s Black populations were neglected by the State, untrained and unprepared for the new job market during the early period of industrialisation, left at the extreme margins of society. Black men would take the few jobs available in rural areas whilst Black women were confined to work in domestic jobs. Black communities in Brazil were to live in poverty, those living in newly urbanised centres were pushed to live in shanty towns, or favelas, which have rapidly expanded following the growth of cities throughout the twentieth-century. Favelas were to become, in contemporary Brazil, symbols, epitomising the nation’s extreme racial and social inequalities as well as violence, culminating in systemic State genocide against Black and brown lives, as a result of police brutality. Ironically though, these communities, or favelas, have historically produced some of the country’s richest and most vibrant modern and contemporary popular counterculture. 

Another crucial factor, or theory, which has also perpetuated in the collective unconscious of Brazil’s society since the first half of the twentieth-century is the ideology of democracia racial, or racial democracy, promoted by one of Brazil’s most renowned intellectuals, Gilberto Freyre. This problematic theory contributed to shape Brazil’s national and cultural identity as the country sought to project internationally an image of a modern and racially cordial country in the 1930s, during the era of President Getúlio Vargas. Freyre believed that the miscegenation of races and cultures in Brazil enabled the South American nation to avoid the sort of racial segregational legislations, policies, and divisions that deeply defined the societies of the United States and South Africa alike. Freyre’s flawed ideology of racial democracy has been nonetheless challenged with harsh critiques by many scholars within academia, particularly by Black intellectuals, as it does not reflect the reality of racial and social relations in Brazil. 

Professor Silvio Almeida critically reflects upon the theory of racial democracy, 

‘What can be noted is that the ideology of racial democracy has been strongly installed in the Brazilian social imaginary, in such a manner as it has been incorporated as one of the central aspects of the interpretation of Brazil, in its various forms and by the many distinct political currents, both to the right and the left alike. In order to understand the strength of this idea introduced to the nation with Gilbero Freyre’s works, is fundamental to understand that racial democracy does not refer only to questions of moral compass. It is about a much more complex system, which involves the reorganisation of strategies of political, economic and racial domination adapted to the specific historical circumstances.’ (3)

The African-Brazilian political philosopher, author and one of the most important names of the Black feminist movement in Brazil, Dr Sueli Carneiro, takes a much harder stance on Brazil’s racial and cultural miscegenation in relation to Gilberto Freyre’s theory of racial democracy, 

‘There are many ethnocide experiences historically applied against the black populations, which started from archaic forms of racial miscegenation, through the utilisation of black women as sexual objects, to criminal actions resulting from the everyday police violence suffered by the black populations…’ The author continues, ‘The colonial rape of the black woman by the white man in the past is miscegenation, from which the basis were created for the foundation of the myth of Brazil’s cordiality and racial democracy.’ (4)

Carneiro, of course, refers to how Black women were seen and treated by the white male Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian coloniser who would have sexually abused and raped enslaved Black women, since their bodies were commodities, hence the term ‘colonial rape’ utilised by the intellectual. Male perceptions of Black women as sexual objects, particularly by white men, did not disappear with the abolition of slavery in Brazil; it stayed in the collective unconscious of many Brazilian men to this day. Such perverse sexual objectification of the female Black body is used to justify acts of violence against Black women in contemporary Brazil. 

Another serious consequence produced by the myth of the ideology of racial cordiality and democracy is manifested through ‘playful social behaviour’ and ‘jokes’ in everyday life in Brazil, whether at work, in social occasions and in other areas of public and private life. It is a nasty form of veiled racism deeply woven in the country’s social fabric and psyche, to which sadly, many Black individuals in Brazil subjugate themselves, and those who do not, tend to be accused by the white perpetrators of being ‘unreasonable’. In his book Racismo Recreativo (Recreational Racism), part of the Feminismos Plurais label, the African-Brazilian intellectual and professor Dr Adilson Moreira - qualified with a master and a doctorate in comparative constitutional law at Harvard University - explains this facet of structural racism in Brazil, 

‘Racial offences against black people in the form of jokes and playful behaviour occur at all places, especially in work spaces, and frequently with the connivence or participation of bosses. Some of these individuals yet try to defend themselves by arguing that their acts are not racist because they socially interact with black people, which therefore cancels the hypothesis that the expression used could be of offensive intention. We may also note the presence of an argument particularly curious: we cannot affirm that the expression in question is of a discriminatory meaning, because such hypothesis would contradict the cordiality which characterises racial relations in our society.’ (5) 

Mass incarceration of people of colour is also another product of structural racism and the deep socioeconomic inequalities in Brazil. Many Black young boys and girls are often brutally penalised by the State and their representatives, the police forces, for minor crimes. As systemic racism runs through all layers of the Brazilian society, political and public institutions, as well as the private sector, the country’s criminal justice system also ensures that Black bodies are their biggest target. The author, Black feminist and anthropology researcher, Juliana Borges, compiled some enlightening research into the book Encarceramento em Massa (Mass Incarceration) - Feminismos Plurais - in which she demonstrates Brazil’s profound racial and social injustices in relation to how the Brazilian law, and its applications, fail this oppressed section of society. 

According to the figures provided in her book, 64% of the prison population is Black, in other words, two out of three prisoners are Black. The country has the third largest prison population in the world, and it is just behind the United States and China consecutively. The so-called ‘war on drugs’ policy is one of the biggest factors that has created such a significant prison overpopulation. Gender is also an important element regarding mass incarceration: between 2006 and 2014 the women’s population in Brazilian prisons increased by 567,4%, and 50% of women incarcerated were between 18 and 29 years old. From this gender group 67% are Black women. Drug trafficking, theft and robbery are usually the common offences, albeit some of these women, mainly Black, are arrested and prosecuted for carrying small quantities of cannabis, for instance. The main causes that lead this vulnerable group of women to commit such offences, the author points out, are usually relating to socioeconomic insecurities, the need to support their children and families, the absence of family structure, domestic and sexual violence. Every twenty-four minutes one Black body is murdered in Brazil, either as a result of criminal violence or the latter committed by the police. Therefore, the State is not only politically and socially absent in Brazil, as it lacks to provide the basic conditions from which this oppressed section of society can prosper with security, but it also takes an active role to eliminate the most vulnerable groups in society. Borges reflects further on this issue, 

‘So, how can we talk about racial democracy in Brazil, when the data shows us a prison system that deliberately punishes and penalises the black population? How can we deny that racism is the pilar of inequalities in Brazil regarding this situation? We simply can’t.’ (6)

To tackle such complex issues, and in order to have dignity, safety and socioeconomic prosperity in their lives, or just to be treated as equals as white Brazilians, Black individuals and communities have understood the concept of empowerment, empoderamento in Portuguese, through individual and collective actions. Through social and political movements and initiatives, Black Brazilians have reacted to this oppressive system. Whether telling their stories by utilising the new digital tools and social media platforms, producing intellectual work, engaging with politics, culture, design and the arts, Black communities have not remained passive and victimised, despite being an oppressed group in Brazilian society. 

The power and potency of their voices and capabilities are immense. During the centre-left government led by the Workers Party, Partido dos Trabalhadores, which governed the country between 2003 and 2016 - when the then President of the Republic, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached by Congress through a parliamentary coup d’état - young Black people had significant access to higher-education at the country’s federal universities through the quota system, which has seen even to this day, high numbers of Black students accessing free education whilst performing better, in many cases, than their white counterparts, according to the author Djamila Ribeiro. In fact, she was herself benefited by the quota system to conduct her own studies at university. The African-Brazilian architect and urban planner specialised in urbanist law, Joice Berth – who conducts research on rights to the city space focused on gender and race – provides an enlightening reflection upon the notion of empowerment (empoderamento) in relation to strengthening (fortalecimento), as a frame which can be utilised and adopted by oppressed groups, such as by Black communities. ‘Strengthening’ individually and collectively is what the five contributing-guests to this project have done throughout their lives, work trajectories, spiritual and religious practices, which could explain their determination and focus in spite of an entire system conspiring against their needs and interests as human beings and citizens. In her book, Empoderamento (Empowerment) – Feminismos Plurais – Berth expands upon her definition of the term, 

‘We leave from a place in which those (women and men) who understand empowerment as an alliance between becoming critically aware and transform in practice, in something challenging and revolutionary in its essence. We leave from a place in which those who understand that the oppressed should empower themselves collectively and that many (women and men) can contribute to it by planting the seeds to make empowerment fertile, while being aware, from now, that, in order to do it, we enter into the world of the unthinkable: empowerment has the challenge and the new in its core, revealing, when present, a reality never before imagined. This is, without a doubt, the true bridge to the future.’ (7)

Contributing Guests

Djamila Ribeiro

It is pretty hard for any writer and thinker to keep up with Djamila Ribeiro’s achievements in recent years. I first came to know Djamila Ribeiro and some of her work, through her social media presence, more specifically via her Instagram around 2017. As I do not live in Brazil, and as my interest in her work increased, the only way I could update my knowledge on what she had to communicate, and on her work development was through her social media, including watching her interviews on YouTube. But of course, this was not enough, nor fair to the grandiosity of Ribeiro’s work and thinking either. Thus as I initiated this project, I placed an order to purchase her books, as well as all the titles by the African-Brazilian authors, whose enlightening writings have been referenced in this essay, belonging to the label which she coordinates – Feminismos Plurais. It was only after watching her interviews and reading her work in Portuguese – as her books have not yet been translated into English language, albeit some of her titles have been published in Spanish, French and Italian – that I was able to realise why she was a rising intellectual in Brazil, Latin America, and I dare say, in the world. 

Despite her apparent dry and emotionally detached tone, Ribeiro’s voice is as assertive as it is potent. Her writings and critiques are as sharp as a sword, and her presence has the power of someone who is protected by Oshosi, or Oxóssi in Portuguese - the African god associated with hunting, forests, animals, wealth and who possesses the bow and arrow as a powerful weapon. Therefore just as her protective orisha, Oshosi - she is adept at the Afro-Brazilian religion of candomblé - Ribeiro has the extraordinary ability to target any interviewer, panel debaters, or her critics, with a and precise arrow.

Djamila Ribeiro’s work as an intellectual, author and thinker has been widely recognised both in Brazil and internationally. In 2019 she was considered one of the 100 most influential women by the BBC, and in the same year, she was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Laureate Award which is granted by the Dutch State to support culture and development. Last year, Ribeiro won Brazil’s most respected award in literature, Prêmio Jabuti, in the category of human sciences for her most recent book, Pequeno manual antirracista (The Antiracist Manual). 

It was, interestingly, in the month of June 2020 when the documentary featuring Ribeiro had been filmed for this project, in São Paulo, that her three books - Lugar de Fala, Quem tem medo do feminismo negro, Pequeno manual antirracista were among the ten bestsellers in Brazil, with the latter leading the list. The same book is among the bestsellers, yet again, this month. Ribeiro has a master in political philosophy awarded by Universidade Federal de São Paulo, where she had to fight her corner to write papers on feminism and Black feminism, which would have been unthinkable, as the philosophy programme at that state university in Brazil was mainly men and Eurocentric-oriented. It was also whilst as a student at the same university, where she had been called racist and misogynistic slurs by some of her white male peers, one of whom once said to her, ‘you are so pretty, why are you studying philosophy?’ Ribeiro has recalled in some of her past interviews that some students at the time would have looked rather baffled that, she as a Black woman, had chosen to study the masters programme in philosophy. It would be interesting to witness now some of the reactions of Ribeiro’s former university peers to her extraordinary achievements. But it is not a surprise that, particularly, white middle-class and wealthy students, and their parents, would still be shocked to see Black students entering some of the country’s most prestigious universities, which happen to be owned by the State and free of tuition fees. This is historically new in Brazil, a country with profound racial and social segregation. Djamila Ribeiro remembers that it was only because of the quota system, which reserves a number of places for Black students, that she was able to study for free, while having the support of her family to look after her daughter. 

This implacable focus and drive has led Ribeiro to become a respected intellectual, philosopher, author and Black feminist activist. She has a weekly column in one of Brazil’s most read newspapers, Folha de S. Paulo, as well as in the magazine, Elle Brasil. She is a lecturer of the journalism programme at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), which is one of the country’s most elite private universities. Only lately that Brazil’s mainstream media, which was until quite recently oblivious of Black professionals and personalities, has started to recognise Ribeiro as a powerful force speaking out for Black women’s civil rights and against racism – she has been featured on the cover of Brazil’s February 2021 edition of GQ and Forbes magazines, and has recently been broadcast on Globo TV, Brazil’s largest TV channel and media group, and on TV Cultura’s Roda Viva programme. 

The media in Brazil does not proportionally reflect the majority of the nation’s population, which is Black, and when it does, however, the portrayal tends to be negative as it reinforces stereotypes and forms of racism. It is not a coincidence that when the African-American intellectual and activist, Angela Davis, visited São Paulo for a conference, she said that after switching the Brazilian TV on in her hotel room, she thought that she was in Finland. ‘White narcissism’ does indeed run through the Brazilian media. In Ribeiro’s Pequeno manual antirracista, the author critically examines the notion of ‘white narcissism’, 

‘the whiteness narcissistic pact’ – expression developed by Cida Bento in her doctorate thesis, used to define how white people consent amongst each other in order to maintain their privileges – collaborating with the exclusion of other groups at the work place.’ (8)

It is therefore not a surprise that Djamila Ribeiro chose the popular social media platforms, particularly Instagram and subsequently YouTube, to communicate her work as an intellectual, thinker and Black feminist activist, with a superb and skilful efficacy, although she regularly says that she is not only interested in social media debates, as the latter tends to drain out the intellectual value of her work and activism, if it just reduced to these digital platforms. 

She could not be more right on this. Nonetheless her following on her preferred social media platform to communicate her ideas and work, Instagram, is currently at 1.1 million followers, and it was by using this powerful digital tool that she managed to penetrate through some of the invisible glass ceiling that the mainstream media has historically constructed to leave powerful, Black voices, like hers, unrepresented. 

But it is really in her writings where Ribeiro demonstrates the depth of her research, thinking and knowledge, particularly of Black and indigenous feminist histories and discourses, which is her focus. Although she is a deep admirer of the works by the French author, Simone De Beauvoir, whose writings particularly inspired Ribeiro’s academic research whilst at university, the powerful novels by the African-American writer, Toni Morrison - one of Ribeiro’s favourite writers of all times - as well as other renowned international names of feminist literature and intellectual production such as Angela Davis, Gayatri Spivak, Bell Hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Audre Lorde, Grada Kilomba and others, Djamila Ribeiro’s project is partly to promote and emphasise on the African-Brazilian and AfroLatino-American discourses. 

She is very much inspired by the concept of Amefricanidade, ‘Amefricanity’ – first introduced by the African-Brazilian feminist intellectual and professor, Lélia Gonzalez, who in other words, proposed the construction of a unique racial and cultural identity that would reflect the works, trajectories and lives of the peoples of the Americas and Caribbean, with a particular focus on Black and indigenous women – who have been ignored by the hegemonic, mainly white, universalist feminist currents of the global North. In Lugar de Fala, Ribeiro reflects further upon Lélia Gonzalez’s rationale on this concept, 

In Lugar de Fala, Ribeiro reflects further upon Lélia Gonzalez’s rationale on this concept, 

‘Lélia Gonzalez (thinker and black feminist) also reflected on the absence of black and indigenous women in the hegemonic feminist movements, and criticised this insistence by women intellectual activists in only reproduce a European feminism, without giving proper importance to the realities of women in colonised countries. The black feminist (Lélia Gonzalez) recognise the importance of feminism as a theory and practice to fight inequalities in the battle against patriarchal capitalism in the search for new forms of being a woman.’ ‘… Gonzalez demonstrated the different trajectories and strategies of resistance from these women and defended the AfroLatin-American feminism, putting in evidence the legacy of the fight, the sharing of experiences in the battle against racism and sexism already accomplished. Therefore, more than sharing experiences based on slavery, racism and colonialism, these women share processes of resistance.’ (9)

Ribeiro is a fierce critic of colonial, and neo-colonial geopolitical practices and strategies, which have sought to place the global South on the margins of high-end economic, intellectual and cultural productions. In her contribution to the documentary as part of Brazil, the untold story, Ribeiro who is an English speaker, and has in the past given speeches at Harvard and Oxford universities as well as at King’s College London, deliberately decided to answer the questions that I posed to her in Portuguese, with the plausible argument that it is important that the global North should begin to decolonise its discourses and perceptions of the global South. In the documentary, the author explicitly criticises neoliberalism as an ideology that reinforces racist practices in Brazilian society, and further afield, while exploiting and maintaining the global South outside the hegemonic sphere of power. Thus it is shocking that none of Ribeiro’s books have yet been translated into English language by any international publishing house. 

A fierce critic of epistemology, which Ribeiro sees as a tool utilised to maintain Eurocentrism and knowledge restricted to privileged white social groups, her writings and books are written in a clear, concise and accessible language, with the intent and vision to disseminate knowledge and educate her readers on issues relating to racial and socioeconomic inequalities, racism and the violent treatment of oppressed groups, in particular Black and indigenous women. 

Ribeiro’s first book, Lugar de Fala, is a successful historiographic effort by the author to critically and eloquently reflect upon the writings of some of the word’s most renowned women intellectuals and thinkers, as well as important works by major Brazilian Black intellectuals such as Sueli Carneiro and Lélia Gonzalez. The book allows the reader to immerse in the conflicting arguments set out by various feminist theories, from Ribeiro’s assertive political standpoint. Quem tem medo do feminismo negro and Pequeno manual antirracista both deeply unsettle the reader, particularly the white ones, as these books encourage us to critically think of our own places, and identities, as white bodies, and thus the repercussions of our privilege on oppressed groups, in particular women of colour in society. Djamila Ribeiro defines the purpose of her leading bestseller, 

‘The aim of the pequeno manual antirracista is to present some avenues of reflection - recuperating important and diverse authors (women and men) about the theme - for those who may want to deepen their perceptions of structural discriminations and to take responsibility to transform our society. After all, antiracism is a fight that belongs to all of us’ (10)

In other words, Ribeiro is calling upon Black and white women and men, heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, transpeople, queer, non-binary, people of all ethnicities, generations, religious and non-religious groups, atheists, and people of all identities and inclinations, to fight racism and all forms of oppressions, produced by capitalism. She is calling upon white heterosexual men - the most privileged group in society - to become feminists; all Black communities to fight LGBTQ+phobia, for white gay men to strongly oppose racism, in an ambitious exercise of intersectionality to envisage true equality in society. Djamila Ribeiro’s label, Feminismos Plurais, has invited both prestigious African-Brazilian intellectuals and authors as well as emerging ones, whose ideas and writings could not reach the ordinary white person until quite recently. Because of her extraordinary vision and efforts, people in Brazil, from the North to the South of the country, are beginning to critically think about their own places and responsibility in society, particularly toward vulnerable groups. I dare say that, Djamila Ribeiro’s endeavour and mission has been revolutionary in a nation that was built on colonial racial and social segregation, and oppression. She has recently announced on her social media, new names joining the list of authors to her label Feminismos Plurais, and that she is currently writing her fourth book. 

Alba Cristina Soares Ya Darabi

She likes to introduce herself as Alba Cristina Soares, her civil name in the world of men, and as Ya Darabi, in the world of the African-Brazilian religion of candomblé, or simply Axé, as she likes to call it. She is known by many of her fans, followers, admirers and friends simply as Alba Darabi - a hybrid version of her civil and religious names, which would perhaps suit her best. This is because she is able to skilfully bring her craft and performance, as an artist, into her role as ialorixá, just as her practice in the dramatic arts is informed by the unbeatable strength of her faith and spirituality, granted by the orixás (Orishas) that guide her life.

Alba Darabi is originally from the town of Itabuna, in south Bahia - the Brazilian state with the largest Black population and undoubtedly the richest African-Brazilian cultural heritage in the country. An independent artist and actress of formidable talent, who has extensively worked in theatre, cinema, fiction and documentary films, and with one participation on commercial Brazilian television. Alba Darabi is the mother of Iajima Silena, and, she is a Mãe de Santo or ialorixá (female priest) of the candomblé religion, leading the terreiro (sacred place of worship of African-base religions) Ilê Axé Odé Omopondá Aladé Ijexá, named in the ancient African language of Yoruba. But she is not only restricted to her spiritual and artistic work, Darabi is an unrelenting personality and fighter for social justice and fairness, engaged with community work as well as the politics, welfare and cultural affairs of Bahia state, her native land, and where she still lives. She has represented the richness of Afro-Brazilian cultures abroad too, through collaborating with many cultural festivals in Austria, Germany, Sweden and Portugal. Her presence is as powerful and authoritative as it is utterly charming and charismatic. It is this charisma added to her artistic and spiritual depth which has brought her the respect, admiration and friendship from names within Brazil’s cultural elite, such as the music composer João Bosco, the multidisciplinary artist Carlinhos Brown, the documentary director Betse de Paula and many others. 

Darabi is a natural leader, blessed and led by her protective Orishas: Oshun, or Oxum in Portuguese - the African female deity of femininity, divinity, fertility, love and beauty, that represents the waters in rivers, waterfalls and lakes; Oshosi (Oxóssi) - representing the forests, hunting and wealth; Oshunmare (Oxumaré) - the Orisha symbolising prosperity. Darabi likes to describe herself and her life as, ‘I’m guided by the accurate precision of Oshosi’s arrow, always hitting the right target, whilst living by my mother Oshun’s skirt, blessed by her glowing radiance.’ This self-reflection by Darabi using this metaphor to describe her own enlightened personality and resilient approach to dealing with life challenges could not be more accurate. 

Trained as an actress in the experimental tradition of street theatre in the region of Ilhéus, south of Bahia, Alba Darabi has performed and acted since she was a child as far as she can remember. As a young woman, she belonged to an avant-garde group of actors in her region called, Grupo em Cena, which was led by the theatre director Mário Gusmão, including acting names such as Jackson Costa, Marcos Cristiano, Mark Wilson, Marcelo Augusto, and Carlos Betão, the latter were to become in future not only her friend, but also her loving partner, her daughter’s father and an established actor of exquisite talent, and although the relationship had terminated after sixteen years of existence, Darabi and Carlos Betão have remained close friends.

Although she feels comfortable acting across the three mediums - television, cinema and film, theatre - it is really on the theatre stage where she feels most at home. Having played countless roles in the theatre, mainly in Bahia, Darabi chose to prioritise raising her daughter in the provincial region of Ilhéus, as opposed to pursuing ‘fame’, as she describes it, in the capital state of Salvador, where her former acting colleagues and friends had eventually moved on to, in the pursuit of further training in the dramatic arts and better work opportunities. But this temporary career sacrifice to look after Iajima, added to the increasing commitments to her spiritual mission as a ialorixá in the candomblé religion, did not deter Darabi from her passion in the dramatic arts. This became evident to me, after learning that the established Portuguese film and cinema director, Manoel de Oliveira (1908 - 2015) — one of the greatest names of European cinema - felt enchanted by Darabi’s knowledge, acting and direction skills. Although she was initially approached by a producer working on behalf of Oliveira, to contribute to his 2000 film, Palavra e Utopia (Word and Utopia), as an extra in the casting, the producer quickly changed his mind after properly talking to Darabi. The actress recalls her experience and feelings while meeting the Portuguese film director, who would notoriously not meet many people whilst working on set, 

‘I initially accepted to work as an extra against my desire, as I did not want to appear “snobbish” in the audition. Although I attended it, I said to the producers: I want to become famous while playing an extra of a black enslaved woman, hence I am here - in a sarcastic response to their question about my motives to play in that film. Little did I know that this line was to resonate with the producers, as they phoned me up the next day manifesting a significant interest in my acting as well as in my knowledge as a ialorixá, since the film is about the life of the seventeenth-century Catholic priest Father António Vieira and his cultural exchanges with black enslaved people who discreetly practiced their African-base religions in colonial Brazil. My audacity did not only land me with the role to play the character of a leading ialorixá of the terreiro in the coloniser’s farmland, but also to co-direct all the 150 black actors in a large film production.’ ‘I could not believe it. At the end, I made Manoel de Oliveira dance to the samba music invoking the Orishas on set, and was invited by him to have dinner, which was amazing.’ (11)

In a letter subsequently sent to Darabi by the Portuguese cinema director, after shooting the film, Manoel de Oliveira writes to the actress, 

‘Your contribution providing the knowledge and organisation of, especially in the shooting of the live dance scene with all the black actors who will be featured in my film, Word and Utopia, was precious, and without that, it would not have been possible to have that magnificent ending of the party that showed the happiness of black magic in the secretive candomblé tradition, added to the feelings of happiness produced from the drums, by these people who are fighters.’ (12)

Alba Darabi did not only enchant the European film director. She hit commercial television in Brazil too, making a contribution, albeit too short, to the popular 2016 Brazilian telenovela, Velho Chico, written by Benedito Ruy Barbosa and produced by TV Globo. In it, she played a strict Catholic nun and teacher (an interesting character for a ialorixá to play) and thus had the opportunity to take part in a huge national TV production, her first one, alongside some of Brazil’s most established and famous actors, including Rodrigo Santoro who has played in many Hollywood films. 

However, the actress is not at all seduced by the pursuit of fame, she is rather more fascinated by acting as a form of true artistic expression - a kind of laboratory which provides the actor with the ability to experiment with the text, learn from the director while emotionally engaging with the spectator live, and with that, stimulating her own artistic practice. Her passion for experimental and independent creative work has sparked her interest to contribute to Brazil, the untold story. 

Candomblé - a documentary film which also includes art performance, as part of the programme for Brazil, the untold story - is a homage to Alba Darabi, both the actress and the ialorixá. It is a recognition of her extraordinary life trajectory as a resilient Black woman proud of her cultural and spiritual African heritage, and of her vision as an artist and ialorixá. The film does not intend to literally explain the history of this fascinating and mysterious African-Brazilian religion, but to see it, through the eyes of Alba Cristina Soares Ya Darabi. The film suggests that candomblé is not only a religion, it is also an expression of political resistance and art, intertwined with African-Brazilian history. It is a way of life. 

The film is deliberately divided into four parts that are connected by Darabi’s own interpretation of both the candomblé religion and the performative arts. Part I Ya Darabi - is an introduction to the ialorixá leading the Ilê Axé Odé Omopondá Aladé Ijexá community or, terreiro, which is located in the exuberant and idyllic Mata Atlântica forest of southern Bahia, featuring beautiful waterfalls, natural lakes and shades of saturated green from the tropical vegetation. Filming in the terreiro led by Ya Darabi was a deliberate choice, not only because of the outstanding natural beauty of that land, but also because candomblé has nature at the core of its religious and cultural ethos, since the African Orishas worshiped in this religion are present in the natural world, symbolising elements from the natural world – the seas, oceans, rivers, forests, winds, fire etc. In this first part, Ya Darabi explains how the candomblé religion came to her life after being brutally discriminated, as a hungry child, by a Catholic worshiper working on behalf of the local priest in her hometown during a ceremony. Many years after this traumatic experience in the Catholic Church, Darabi recalls being introduced to a terreiro of candomblé by a friend. She remembers how accepting, welcoming and generous people were in the terreiro, a place where she did not have to encounter any form of assessment, hostility or discrimination, on the contrary, the first thing that Darabi was given upon her arrival was a dish to eat. She had finally found a place, and religion, which did not turn people away on the basis of their gender, sexuality, race, skin colour and social status. Darabi had felt at home for the first time in her life, by the religion of the Orishas through which she was able to celebrate her ancestors from Mother Africa. In fact, the ialorixá’s definition of candomblé, suggests that this religion strives for a more egalitarian world with nature and justice at the forefront of its discourse. 

Part II Yorùbá - Yorùbá, or Yoruba in English, Iorubá in Portuguese, is the name of an ethnic group originally from Western Africa - contemporary Nigeria, Benin and Togo - who originally speak the ancient language of Yoruba.

Although the African diaspora brought peoples from many African ethnic groups to Brazil through colonisation and slavery, each speaking different languages, worshiping unique deities while having distinct sets of customs amongst them, the diaspora movement of resistance in Brazil, began to organise these different cultures in the nineteenth-century in the name of a common cause: freedom, the preservation of memory and the many cultural elements that groups of enslaved Black peoples were able to preserve throughout centuries of slavery, in spite of all the adversities, repression and violence committed against them. 

During this process of organisation, many African-Brazilians, particularly those located in northeastern Brazil descending from Western African civilisations, chose Yoruba to symbolise the language of this struggle which later was to become prevalent in the terreiros of candomblé. Whereas different ancient Sub-Saharan African kingdoms and civilisations would usually worship one Orisha - colonisation, slavery and the diaspora movement in Brazil gave birth to the religion of candomblé as it sought to represent the struggles of all Black peoples in Brazil, therefore, from the nineteenth-century onwards, some terreiros of candomblé started to worship and celebrate more than one Orisha, with Yoruba becoming the language utilised to communicate during the rituals in the terreiros. The Brazilian researcher and professor of African and Afro-Brazilian history and studies, Dr Alexandre Marcussi, expands on this analysis, 

‘In the African continent, especially in Nigeria, it was practice that each ritual or religious ceremony, would be dedicated to one Orisha. There is evidence showing, in eighteenth-century Brazil, rituals that would only worship only one deity, notwithstanding in the nineteenth-century, the model of contemporary terreiros existing nowadays, began to be adopted with all Orishas being worshiped as part of the same ritual.’ (13)

In the second part of the film, Ya Darabi and her Filhas de Santo (disciples) from her terreiro, potently invoke from nature, the Orishas through singing in Yoruba. Despite the fact that Ya Darabi sings a hybrid version of Yoruba that is the product of the historical process of acculturation with Portuguese language in Brazil, Yorùbá is an implicit political and anticolonial statement and performance, as the ialorixá and her community purposely do not sing nor speak in Portuguese during their performances throughout the entire second part. In it, Ya Darabi invites the spectator to engage with ritual and the poetic beauty of the songs and chants celebrating the Orishas whilst in perfect harmony with the natural world. Each song is dedicated to one particular Orisha: starting from Eshu (Exú in Portuguese) - the Orisha messenger responsible for communications and opening up obstructed ways. 

Part III Sueli Carneiro - this third part represents an aesthetic shift in the film, as the set is changed. Alba Darabi leaves the terreiro, to occupy the theatre stage at the empty Teatro Municipal de Ilhéus, in Bahia, to offer her homage, crafted by herself with my direction, to one of Brazil’s most important African-Brazilian intellectuals: the political philosopher, author and Black feminist activist, Sueli Carneiro. The script is based upon one particular essay written by the intellectual entitled, Enegrecendo o feminismo: a situação da mulher negra na América Latina a partir de uma perspectiva de gênero, in Portuguese, (Blackening feminism: the situation of Black women in Latin America from the perspective of gender).

Taking Candomblé to the theatre was entirely appropriate. This is because Alba Darabi has two homes: the terreiro, and the theatre stage. As candomblé, which also represents resistance for many people from the diaspora in Brazil, Darabi and I viewed the stage as a powerful political and artistic platform to talk about the struggles of the African-Brazilian peoples. By reciting an essay by a Black woman intellectual, whose text is explicitly political and critical of the hegemonic white feminist discourses that tend to ignore Black perspectives, Darabi is assertively reflecting the revolutionary ethos of the candomblé religious practice. The actress occupies centre-stage, at this time with her hair out as she is not wearing a turban, having a simple white dress on, playing and experimenting with Carneiro’s painfully sharp and moving words. It is tough, not only because Darabi seeks to dramatise the essay, but because Carneiro’s words resonate with her emotionally while reminding herself of traumatic episodes as a younger Black woman. 

In a moving and experimental performance, Darabi not only recites Carneiro’s essay, she gives herself entirely to the performative act, at times incorporating the ancestral memories lived by many Black women whilst having their bodies enslaved and commoditised. One particularly outstanding section of the performance is when Darabi dramatically elaborates from one of Carneiro’s lines, alluding to a scene of rape that a Black enslaved woman would have suffered in the hands of the white coloniser. Darabi’s performative act reaches a height when she screams, whilst crawling in despair on stage, the word ‘tarado’ in Portuguese, which means pervert in English, supposedly after the barbaric violent act committed by the white male coloniser had taken place. The performance is dark, and filled with a sarcastic tone which the artist deliberately employs throughout the piece to give life to Carneiro’s words, 

‘We know, as well, that in this context of conquest and domination, the social appropriation of women from the defeated group is one of the most emblematic moments of affirmation and superiority by the winner. Today, they are the housekeepers and maids of liberated and bourgeois white women, or “mulatas” for the export market. When we speak about the rupture with the myth of the “queen of the home” - the muse adored by the poets, which group of women are we talking about? Black women are part of a contingent of women who are queens of nothing, who are portrayed as the anti-muse of the Brazilian society, because the aesthetic model for women, is the white woman.’ (14)

Part IV Alba Cristina Soares - for the fourth and final part, the woman and actress, is confronted with a set of dense and deep questions regarding her life pathway as a Black woman and artist. The format of such questions was inspired by the psychoanalytic practice, as it intended to encourage Alba Darabi to immerse and examine her own past. In this piece, the artist reveals how she has navigated through life as a Black woman and mother, and how race, racism, economic struggles, traumatic experiences, maternity, spirituality and faith have all informed the person, the artist and the ialorixá that she is. In order to accomplish this task, the actress temporarily leaves the stage to be seated in the audience. This is a symbolic shift, as both the artist and spectator notice the empty theatre, which was exceptionally closed, as most cultural venues and theatres have been due to the restrictions caused by the current pandemic. 

This was the hardest part for Alba Cristina Soares - to face silence and the sound of her own voice and answers to the questions posed, without the interactions with the audience, as she would be doing during a performance at a busy theatre venue, or without being interrupted or censored by a director. Alba Cristina Soares has stripped off the protective layers that we all construct to hide vulnerabilities as she candidly and critically reflects upon her life, her identity as a Black woman and artist, the current far-right politics that has dominated Brazil, its grim impact on the cultural sector and the lives of many artists in the country. Alba Darabi concludes this final part with another outstanding performance, by reciting the poem by Roseli da União dos Palmares, sou negra (I am Black). 

Maxwell Alexandre

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, the visual artist Maxwell Alexandre has been an emerging powerful force coming out of Brazil as he gains increasing recognition by the international contemporary art circuit. Trained in design at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ) - an education that was possible to realise because of a scholarship awarded to the artist, since this university is a private elite institution - Maxwell Alexandre’s rise to recognition has been fast and well-deserved. 

Unlike all the other contributing-guests to this project, Maxwell Alexandre was brought up by an evangelical family in Brazil’s largest favela, Rocinha, located in one of Rio de Janeiro’s most affluent areas. In fact, most Black Brazilians practice Christian religions as opposed to the African-base religions such as candomblé or umbanda. The protestant-derived religions of the evangelicals have been particularly popular and on the rise amongst Black Brazilians, and Maxwell Alexandre's upbringing was influenced by the evangelical doctrine as a result. Notwithstanding the visual artist converted into a new religion called by himself and his artist peers as, The Church of the Kingdom of Art, in which he became baptised by the artist rapper BK, after a long procession taking place from the artist’s studio in Rocinha to A Gentil Carioca art gallery, which is located in the centre of Rio de Janeiro. This pilgrimage and procession, culminating in the baptism of the artist at the art gallery, was a ritual nonetheless, which sought to confirm Maxwell Alexandre’s implacable commitment to his artistic practice. In the procession, Maxwell Alexandre and other artists from The Church of the Kingdom of Art carried four large mural paintings which were then revealed in the gallery. Following the the ritualistic procession and baptism, all the paintings were shown in his first solo exhibition in 2018 at A Gentil Carioca.

The year of 2018 was to reward the artist for all his sacrifices made in the name of art. He was awarded with Prêmio São Sebastião de Cultura 2018; two major Brazilian cultural institutions, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo and Museu de Artes de São Paulo (MASP), acquired one work of art each by the artist; the artist took part in group exhibitions at Berlin Art Fair, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel gallery in São Paulo, A Gentil Carioca in Rio de Janeiro, and the acclaimed group exhibition Histórias Afro-Atlânticas at the Museu de Artes de São Paulo (MASP) in 2018. At the end of the same year, Maxwell Alexandre was invited by the prestigious Delfina Foundation, in London, to take on an artist’s residency with the support from the Instituto InclusArtiz. Maxwell Alexandre’s relentless focus took him in 2019 to the French city of Lyon, where he was invited by Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon to take part in a month’s residency to develop his most established series of artworks to this date, Pardo é Papel, which granted him with his first international solo exhibition at the French museum. Against all odds and the instabilities provoked by the pandemic and its countless albeit necessary lockdowns, Maxwell Alexandre’s perseverance made him accomplish the impossible in 2020, to develop a new version of Pardo é Papel for his first solo exhibition entitled, Pardo é papel: Close a door to open a window, in the United Kingdom at the renowned David Zwirner gallery in London. 

The rise of Maxwell Alexandre could be contextualised by many as being part of a wider African-Brazilian ‘renaissance’ movement revealing increasing intellectual, cultural and artistic production taking place in the country in the last few years, as the Black Brazilian curator Hélio Menezes once suggested during an interview. Nonetheless one should not expect Black Brazilian artists to be restricted to or only deal with themes relating to race and their African-Brazilian cultural heritage, as this would be a dangerous stereotype to fall into. It would unfairly reduce Black artists, their complex and rich artistic production into a category, thus counterproductive to the dialogue regarding this exciting ‘renaissance’ of artists and intellectuals. However, Maxwell Alexandre’s Pardo é Papel is a political statement. It skillfully deals with the question of race, identity and the body politic of the everyday life, informed by his experiences as a resident as well as a spectator of the Rocinha community. The director of the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, Isabelle Bertolotti, examines this series of artworks, 

‘Before he even lifts a paintbrush, the artist has stated his position through his choice of paper, a choice that could be interpreted as essentially economic but which is actually far from insignificant. In Brazil, it is the paper used for wrapping things. But the attraction for Maxwell Alexandre is that it is not white, it is pardo…’ ‘Pardo is used in Brazil by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) on their ten-yearly census forms as one of the official words for declaring skin colour (either white, pardo, black, yellow or indigenous). This touches on a sensitive point that Maxwell Alexandre brings to the fore: the way in which people perceive themselves and define themselves but, above all, the way in which we are actually perceived by others. It is not only a question of skin colour but also a matter of social status and one’s position in society.’ (15)

For Brazil, the untold story - the artist Maxwell Alexandre and I decided to focus on three particular series of artworks and performances which inform the early stages of his artistic practice, nonetheless as important as his current work: Laje, só existe com gente, Não há nada de novo sob o sol, Afirmações de Terreno. There is a common thread connecting these three series of artworks, as the latter overlap each other as part of a process of experimentation and development, for which the artist employs innovative materials and methods with superb sense of ingenuity and subversion. Afirmações de Terreno, reveals Maxwell Alexandre’s transition from being a highly-skilled roller-skater into a visual artist. The radical street sport of roller-skating was an important part of his life from the age of 14 to 26 years old. It was through this practice that Maxwell Alexandre discovered the technique of wall-ride painting which he would produce by utilising pieces of unused leftover fabric in the university’s fashion department while he was a student at the institution. Purchasing canvas would have been too expensive for the young and ambitious student and artist. It was through collecting pieces of found fabrics which were of irregular sizes and shapes, that Maxwell Alexandre was able to paint and begin to register his impressions of his surroundings. 

The task in hand would be to transfer paint, that the artist would first pour on the ground, onto the leftovers of canvases hanging on the wall. By playing with repetitive and exhaustive maneuvers in his rollerblades, the artist would fly off whilst gaining speed, to transfer and apply the paint from the floor onto the material, creating abstract shapes and lines. Choosing the adequate place for experimenting with wall-ride painting was as important as the method applied in the art pieces. The abandoned skeleton of buildings and interiors of incomplete constructions located in isolated areas on the edge of the city, would become the perfect place for the artist to put into practice his new performative technique. 

In the absence of paint, or due to conservation reasons, he would mainly work with the dust from the floor, transferring it onto the canvases hanging on the wall thus creating even more abstract marks, the latter would carry the memories from this dust, and history, literally removed from the ground, and through this performative act, were to be made visible on the canvas. A conventional paintbrush was no longer necessary to create paintings - the young and experimental artist had found his own particular and inventive method to create art while rejecting the use of traditional materials utilised to produce paintings which may be associated with one’s disposable income and social status. 

Maxwell Alexandre wanted to defy the notion of invisible boundaries too. For this particular series of works and experiments, the artist would explore the risks of producing wall-ride painting in the city’s affluent bourgeois territories, by subversively exposing his own body in areas heavily surveilled by the police forces as well as private security. The film recalls memories of when he was careful to select white paint instead of black or any other colour paint, so as not to vandalise the white walls of the luxury shopping mall in the south of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Maxwell Alexandre was and is well aware of issues relating to police violence, and how this authority would potentially perceive Black bodies passing through highly-secured affluent areas during evening time. Bodies that would usually not belong in such territories. Therefore while a university student he would deliberately carry his university ID from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, an elite institution, in case the police were to stop and search him. The artist claims, in other words, that this university ID was somehow a ‘passport’ that would protect his body from police harassment and violence, allowing him to navigate more safely and freely through bourgeois areas of the city. 

Having experimented with and learned from the wall-ride painting technique, Maxwell Alexandre sought to utilise similar methods and found leftover pieces of canvas on his family’s modest and small rooftop area in the Rocinha favela for the Laje, só existe com gente. He would not only draw and write on the pieces of leftover fabric, he would indeed register on fabric through drawing and writing, the objects and voices that would occupy these rooftop spaces, lajes in Portuguese, and their surroundings. Objects, wandering local cats, and voices that would belong to the everyday life of such places would be under observation by the artist, as no detail would escape from his eyesight and hearing. He would register on the canvases the content of the conversations conducted by local residents and neighbours that he would overhear and capture, whether an argument, or a conversation of religious purpose between local evangelicals. Bare bricks, that would usually appear exposed in housing constructions in the favelas, were captured and utilised by the artist as symbols of solid support and an important material in his early practice, alongside with the iconic laje swimming pools, popular among local residents, as well as exposed water tanks. No materials, sound and visual information would be neglected or wasted, particularly in the absence of financial resources. 

Maxwell Alexandre thus captured the cultural fabric of the Rocinha favela by creatively elevating its characteristic symbols, materials, and stories, that would otherwise be left unnoticed by the city’s residents belonging to other socioeconomic realities and groups. In the film, the artist recalls himself in the past, having to use his sister’s specific hair straightening product from an iconic brand called Henê, particularly popular amongst women of colour with curly-hair in Brazil, or graxa, a shoe-polish product made of grease which he used to polish his military boots whilst serving in the army, to create art as oils and acrylic would have been too expensive. The scarcity of financial resources to purchase good quality materials to produce mural paintings, enabled the young artist to imaginatively embrace the use of objects and materials that were available to him in his surroundings. This was the art of using the objects of everyday life. 

Halfway through the film, the documentary unexpectedly turns into video art. Maxwell Alexandre has chosen to show in this film, for the first time, a performance series which he initiated at the start of the first lockdowns taking place early last year in Brazil. In Corridas, the artist films himself running through inside the spaces in which he lives and works in the Rocinha, seeking to register, by using CCTV style cameras, the places in which his life has been temporarily confined. Boxes, unfinished and finished mural paintings, work materials and furniture all become more evident as the cameras capture the artist exercising while performing at the same time. 

This particular piece reveals Maxwell Alexandre’s sense of discipline and focus as he reassess what to do during an unsettling period in which scheduled commitments such as traveling, installing exhibitions, finishing artworks and other projects were being halted or rescheduled in light of the pandemic. The artist’s world seems to have been reduced to its absolute core: his art practice. The performance alludes to the realities of many people, especially those living in small crowded spaces, during challenging circumstances, but in this case, Maxwell Alexandre is claiming these spaces for himself, in spite of the physical limitations and adversities. He secures his own ‘territories’ by leaving his marks in each room of his atelier, office space and residential flat. Yet again, demonstrating his resilience and resolve to continue to inventively capture his own existence and the world around to him. The documentary and video art is concluded by the artist as he decides to turn the cameras off, one by one. 

Dr Rodney William

He is a true intellectual and babalorixá (male priest) leading the terrreiro Ilê Obá Ketu Axé Omi Nlá of the candomblé religion, with the protection of Oshosi as his main guiding Orisha. Born and raised in the north of São Paulo city, Dr Rodney William, or pai (father) Rodney as many of his friends and followers would prefer to call him, was trained in the social sciences with a doctorate in anthropology granted by Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). Embodying a powerful and self-confident personality, pai Rodney, who is openly gay, is a fine and articulate scholar and researcher of the African-base religions and topics relating to African and African-Brazilian studies, thus combining his intellectual knowledge with his devotion to candomblé and other African-derived religions. With many interview requests by major broadcasters and newspapers, pai Rodney also has a column in the Brazilian political magazine Carta Capital, a platform which he has strategically utilised to examine political issues relating to race, structural racism, grassroots politics, cultural appropriation and many other topics. Respected by intellectuals, powerful editors, progressive politicians and celebrities alike, pai Rodney’s words influence, educate and inspire. 

It is not a coincidence that Dr Rodney William exerts influence on many people. The scholar, author and babalorixá was listed in 2019 as one of the 100 most influential people by MIPAD (The Most Influential People of African Descent) – a global civil society initiative in support of the United Nations’ International Decade for people of African Descent. He is the author of a few books too, such as A bênção aos mais velhos: poder e senioridade nos terreiros de candomblé, Palavras de Axé, and, his most recent title published for Feminismos Plurais – Apropriação Cultural (Cultural Appropriation) which has already been published both in French and Spanish. Pai Rodney effectively communicates directly to his audience via social media too, especially via Instagram and his YouTube channel, which he uses to convey his scholarly knowledge about the mysterious world of candomblé and its Orishas, including other African-base religions. By conducting ‘lives’ on Instagram, he is able to amplify his antiracism message too, providing enlightening perspectives particularly on issues regarding cultural appropriation, the theme of his latest book. 

Before deciding to acquire a copy of Apropriação Cultural, I engaged with some of his educational lives on social media which compelled me to read his work. His research and words are precise and critical, such as when he argues that people should not expect Orishas to be saints, aiming at those who still attempt to ‘whiten’ or christianise the candomblé religion, which for pai Rodney can be a form of cultural appropriation, since in his view, the Orishas are originally African and Black. Highly influenced by his upbringing while he would enjoy his local samba and capoeira circles as well as the terreiros of the candomblé and umbanda religion, pai Rodney is proudly fond of the popular culture created in the periphery areas of the north of São Paulo city, which has traditionally produced many fine samba musicians and groups. 

To learn from this sophisticated intellectual and babalorixá, Brazil, the untold story registered Dr Rodney William in a documentary at his large house, which is also his terreiro where he and his disciples worship the African and African-Brazilian deities and entities, on the leafy outskirts of São Paulo. 

Pai Rodney opens the documentary film inside his house revealing his bare chest, symbolically stripping himself off his clothes to wear the religious dress appropriate to his function and rank within his community of the candomblé. During this presentation, he proudly mentions his choice of colour for this attire —white — whilst he was presenting his doctorate thesis. In that occasion, the student of social sciences was preparing to present his thesis to the university professors and peers, however, he had made a prior and particular request to specifically present it on a Friday, in respect and homage to Oshala, or Oxalá in Portuguese, the father of all Orishas and creator of all human bodies. The request was accepted by the university, thus pai Rodney could have the wisdom of father Oshala while dressed in white to honour the father of all Orishas. Followed by the ritual of dressing his religious attire of a babalorixá, he descends to the entrance of his house to respectfully greet, precisely at the gate, Eshu, the messenger Orisha responsible for the communications between humans and Orishas, who is in charge for opening one’s pathways. This powerful act and ritual set the tone for the conversation on camera in which pai Rodney eloquently reflects upon my questions, his latest book, in addition to introducing some his religious art collection, rituals and life. As with this documentary, pai Rodney introduces his readers to the cultural and spiritual importance of Eshu, 

‘Eshu Olojá, is the owner of the market. It is the Orisha which presides over all exchanges, transactions, negotiations, interactions the circulation of goods. Eshu is the dynamic principle, representing communication, movement. Lord of reciprocity, of sociability and all social relations. The messenger transiting between all worlds. Eshu speaks all languages, eats all that the mouth eats, drinks all that the mouth drinks. He represents the order and disorder of the universe. Eshu makes the error become right and the right to turn into error. The most human of all Orishas lives in the crossroads and kills a bird yesterday with a stone thrown today. Eshu is memory, history and life.’ (16) 

Pai Rodney purposely defines the role of Eshu to allude to the act of reciprocity, in which we are supposed to give but also receive in return. The intellectual expands on it by arguing that when one gives without receiving anything, or very little in return, this becomes extortion and exploitation which characterise cultural appropriation. In other words, pai Rodney is critically examining the injustices produced by the capitalist system, with particular fierce criticism to the fashion, cuisine and music industries for appropriating artefacts, food recipes, traditional craftsmanship techniques, fabric patterns, music genres, culture and so forth, created by historically oppressed groups of people without properly rewarding and mentioning the original authors and creators. Therefore transforming, altering and appropriating cultural, aesthetic, artistic, religious symbols of profound significance for many subalternised groups into commoditised goods by hegemonic groups, mainly white consumers who have no, or little, understanding and awareness of what they are consuming in reality. Companies, brands, high-end restaurants, large music recording studios trade goods, sell their products and services making a signifiant profit from items and cultural production from groups that have been historically oppressed and subalternised, at times still impoverished, without sharing a fair percentage of their gains with such groups thus continuing a cycle of colonial, or neo-colonial rape, the scholar affirms. 

One specific popular example mentioned by the intellectual is the inappropriate use of the head turban, at times fashionable amongst many women, including white women who would wear it without taking into consideration the problematic history of oppression behind this particular item. For instance, Black enslaved women in colonial Brazil, were forced to hide their hair as Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian colonisers would feel disgusted by seeing African and African-Brazilian women’s hairstyles. Therefore the turban which then was an oppressive accessory utilised to hide those women’s African racial and cultural roots, became a political item after the abolition of slavery, when Black women from the diaspora movement incorporated the turban as a powerful political symbol and act expressing their identity as well as resistance. Fashion brands would trade this item without the preoccupation to pass this knowledge onto their consumers and clients, who usually belonged to privileged social groups, who would insensitively object to not wearing the turban, when confronted by Black women for instance, in the name of their ‘freedom of expression’. 

Pai Rodney clearly explains how capitalism, which has historically benefited from colonialist, neo-colonialist and racist practices has been instrumental in maintaining this cycle, in which subalternised groups of people are still kept in places of socioeconomic disadvantage in relation to the dominant, mainly white, groups.

Even the internationally-celebrated Brazilian Bossa Nova movement and its white music composers, songwriters and singers do not escape from pai Rodney’s implacable scrutiny. The scholar claims both in his book and in the documentary that the founding members of this Brazilian music movement sought to ‘purify’ the music genre of samba, originally created by groups of Black musicians and singers many of whom from humble origins living in favelas and the peripheries of Rio de Janeiro in the first of half of the twentieth-century. This attempt to culturally appropriate samba, turning it into a more ‘palatable’ genre of music for the white audiences from 1950s and 1960s was a racist strategy properly thought-through by some of the Bossa Nova artists leading this movement. In Apropriação Cultural, the author cites the artist Tom Jobim’s racist reflections on samba, 

“The authentic black samba from Brazil is very primitive. They maybe use ten instruments for percussion and four or five singers. They scream and the music is too expressive and intense. But Bossa Nova is light and contained instead. Like a story, trying to be simple and lyrical. João and I feel that Brazilian music sounded exaggerated like a storm in the sea, so we wanted to transform it into something calmer, more adequate to recording it in a studio. You can call bossa nova a cleansed version of samba, purified, without losing its essence.” (17)

Samba and turbans are not the only African-Brazilian cultural symbols that have been appropriated by capitalist exploitative hegemonic groups, the intellectual explains. Acarajé, an iconic African-Brazilian pastry typical from the state of Bahia, has been renamed by some Christian-evangelical groups as Bolinho de Jesus, or Jesus’s pastry. Alike samba, capoeira which in the past, even after the abolition of slavery, received significant censorship and persecution from Brazilian authorities who would consider it a subversive practice has been renamed by evangelical groups as Capoeira de Jesus, or Jesus’s capoeira. All examples provided by the scholar are part of historical initiative and strategy to extract blackness out of African-Brazilian cultural creations through racist means in order to change the original meanings of such powerful expressions of culture. It is a blatant attempt to ‘whiten’ the incredibly rich cultural contributions from African and African-Brazilian communities to Brazil. Racism, therefore, is used as a perverse tool to accomplish such ambitions. 

But pai Rodney makes a clear distinction between processes of cultural appropriation and acculturation. He reflects upon it, 

‘The social formation of Brazil is marked by processes of acculturation in which many times cultural elements from Europeans, Amerindians and Africans blended in together. In the religious realm, for instance, the syncretism gave origin a religion quintessentially Brazilian, the umbanda, as it did also influence candomblé and other rituals of African origin, spiritualism and even catholicism in its more devotional and popular version.’ (18)

Despite the fact that cultural and racial miscegenation was in many cases a violent and oppressive process, where the dominated Black African and African-Brazilian groups, as well as Amerindian peoples, were forced to accept the rules imposed by the white coloniser, the process of acculturation was more fluid and worked both ways, even if such exchanges did not always happen on equal terms. Culture is not something fixed and still, it evolves, it absorbs and it changes as a result. In the film, the intellectual describes the religion of umbanda, as being emblematic of this process of acculturation and syncretism, as it worships from Black African Orishas, through spiritual entities taken from Brazil’s most marginalised groups to Catholic saints and Christ. 

But pai Rodney raises serious issues taking place in contemporary Brazil regarding religious intolerance and persecution. There have been increasing cases of terreiros of candomblé and umbanda, for instance, receiving violent attacks by mobs of Neo-pentecostal evangelical extremists. In some cases in Rio de Janeiro, for example, many adepts of the African-base religions are not allowed to wear white in public on Fridays while paying their respects to Oshala, as they could be targets of attacks by extremist evangelics. Such groups of evangelical extremists are at times connected to organised crime, including drug trafficking, and are in their majority supporters of Brazil’s current neofascist president, Jair Bolsonaro. Although many of these Christian extremists label African deities as something ‘diabolic’ or of ‘devil’s creation’, pai Rodney sharply counters such attacks as nonsense, since devil is a Christian invention, as it has never existed in the world of African deities. 

Pai Rodney concludes the documentary reflecting upon his existence, 

‘I am an activist, I am a man who has made of candomblé my space of resistance. I am a babalorixá who has turn his doctorate into a tool of resistance. The fight is the fight of my people, it’s the fight of my ancestors, who have given me the right and honour to sit on this throne, Oshosi’s throne, representing the dignity of my people, the dynasty that makes me live, work and fight for the core principles that I believe.’ (19)

Carlinhos Brown

Carlinhos Brown is a true aesthete. He is an authentic multidisciplinary artist, recognised in Brazil, and internationally. He is the true anthropophagist who would eat and synthesise any form of cultural, religious and artistic expression, and after that, would turn it into something bold, fresh and new. He is a musician, songwriter, poet, singer, performer, costume stylist and visual artist. Both his music and paintings reveal an intricate world of multilayered influences, experiences, knowledge and energy. He is adept at both the candomblé religion as well as Catholicism, from terreiros to churches, and vice versa. In many ways, Carlinhos Brown embodies Brazil’s highly diverse cultural make up. He is an experimenter, working in a vast cultural laboratory, with an astute ability to read and understand the world around him. 

Antônio Carlos Santos de Freitas, or Carlinhos Brown, was born and raised in the area of the Candeal, on the outskirts of the city of Salvador - the state capital of Bahia. In the early 1980s Carlinhos Brown already was one of the most requested music instrumentalists of Bahia, with percussion becoming his forte and a passport to play and perform music with some of Brazil’s most renowned music artists. In the late 1980s he was the preferred percussionist of some of Brazil’s popular music titans, such as João Gilberto, Djavan, João Bosco and Caetano Veloso, touring both nationally and internationally. 

But it was really from the 1990s when the artist started to make one of his greatest contributions to Brazilian and Latin American popular music. Brown reinvents the notion of percussion by experimenting with it, inviting some of the leading percussionists of Bahia to form the internationally acclaimed band, Timbalada, which became revolutionary and an international reference in the world of music, particularly during carnival celebrations. Brazilian and international tourists alike would visit Salvador to dance to the beats of Timbalada. It was also in the early 1990s when the public was able to discover and appreciate Brown’s vocals, after the release of the Bahia black - Ritual Beating System album in collaboration with other artists and under the production of Bill Laswell. In addition to being an excellent percussionist, Brown had also demonstrated to the world that his voice, and words, were potent and skilled. His first solo album released in the 1990s, Alfagamabetizado, internationally-acclaimed by critics, seems to have cemented the artist as a talented and celebrated vocalist too.

After that, Brown becomes a phenomenon, as he begins to increasingly receive recognition, nationally and internationally, by winning prestigious awards, including many Grammys. His vibrant music performances left a mark in international cities, from New York to Europe’s cosmopolitan capitals. During one particular tour across Spain, Brown managed to do the extraordinary: his music performances had brought over one million people out on to the streets of Valencia to sing and dance to the contagious beats of his music, to listen to his powerful voice. It was in the 2000s, however, when Carlinhos Brown was recognised as a fine songwriter too, with a rising number of renowned and popular Brazilian singers, such as Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, Cássia Eller, Ivete Sangalo, Caetano Veloso and many others recording his songs. Os Tribalistas, a music group and album created by Brown in collaboration with two other music artists of great weight in Latin America, Marisa Monte and Arnaldo Antunes, became an international hit, which as a result, landed the trio with a Latin Grammy Award and positive critic acclaim. This extraordinary syncretist aesthete and his music influences were once summarised by the chief popular music critic at the New York Times, Jon Pareles,

‘And in the best Brazilian pop tradition, Mr. Brown’s music embraces all sorts of things: sambareggae and axé rhythms from his home state, Bahia; samba and other beats from across Brazil; and funk, rock, reggae, jazz, hip-hop and salsa from abroad. (20)

The multidisciplinary artist has developed a significant interest in creating philanthropic projects as well, with communities closer to his heart and home in Salvador. The Pracatum Association for Social Action, or Associação Pracatum Ação Social, led by Brown, works in the development of disadvantaged children and adolescents by maximising their potential, offering language courses, fashion and craftsmanship training, dance classes and independent schooling. In 2002, this same philanthropic association received the Unesco Award for its support services to the youth, added to another award granted by the United Nations which recognised the artist’s efforts through the project, Tá Rebocado, to improve the lives of young people from the Candeal area in Salvador, his place of birth and community. 

Carlinhos Brown has found in the visual arts, in particular in painting, a powerful medium to express his rich and complex world of influences and emotions. He has been painting for the last sixteen years, with no formal training. Brown is gradually revealing his understanding of the practice with a fine sensibility to abstraction, and inspired by the vibrancy of Spain’s modern painters as well as Brazil’s cultural and religious miscegenation. His paintings resemble the umbanda religious doctrine: a world where Black African Orishas meet Catholic saints in the pursuit of ritual and furthering wisdom. Painting, like percussion, unleashes the artist’s potent energy which creates violently saturated scenes at times. Brown does not shy away from the vibrancy of colour, as he transfers the intensity of the sound produced by his percussion onto the canvas. His artistic expression, whether in music or in the visual arts, unashamedly embraces popular culture, carnival, the streets of Salvador, his spiritual faith and resilience. But of course, he is not only restricted to painting, the artist has been experimenting with sculpture and installations too. The multidisciplinary artist has already shown in two solo exhibitions: ‘O olhar que ouve’ in 2013 at the Planalto Palace, Brazil’s presidential palace and at Telefonica Foundation in Madrid, ‘La mirada que escucha’ in 2019. 

For his contribution to Brazil, the untold story, Carlinhos Brown and I focused on a documentary which would convey the history of Salvador’s Candeal area through his own personal experiences while growing up. In this particular piece, Carlinhos Brown who is protected by Ogun, the Orisha of justice, strength and war, reflects on this history of the area and community which has significantly informed his upbringing. A community which has dramatically changed through urban growth, following Salvador’s development. 

Filmed outside, at his large studio complex called CandyAll, in an area filled with religious iconography where an altar arises decorated with an image of Saint Anthony placed on it. Not far from the altar, there is a visual representation in sculpture of the Obaluayé – the Orisha that sings – made of straw, occupying the space while conveying strength. This scenery represents Brown’s syncretism, a universe where Saints meet Orishas. 

The set is ready for the artist to perform and reflect upon his life experiences in the Candeal, 

‘I was born in an area filled with traditions, an area which has kept the colonial residues of history through the people who have lived here.’ (21)

Carlinhos Brown narrates the fascinating life stories of common people from the area, which is intertwined with Brazil’s colonial, modern and contemporary histories. Among some of the stories, Brown talks about a sacred stone brought to Brazil from Africa and dedicated to Ogun, which helped to build a terreiro in the name of the Orisha by Black enslaved people, which eventually became a centre of pilgrimage amongst babalorixás and ialorixás from the whole country. The area of the Candeal, whose heritage was influenced by the local matriarchy, was the home of modest families albeit who never had to struggle as they were able to cultivate their own plantations thus having the necessary food to feed themselves. Notwithstanding, rapid urban growth, the artist claims, has to an extent destroyed the ability that those families had to provide for themselves. Despite Brown’s softly spoken tone, he sharply reflects upon the African-Brazilian Black identities and ethos, in relation to Brazil’s recent and muddled political corruption scandals, claiming that Black people did not bring greed, violence and corruption to South America. He believes that Brazil has a particular role in the world as a nation, as it has experienced extraordinary racial and cultural miscegenation, the country has been able to preserve a lot of African cultural and religious traditions, some of which, would be difficult to find in contemporary Africa. 

Carlinhos Brown tells the stories of ordinary people from Candeal, he tells his life stories of humble beginnings, the stories of Black peoples, of the Orisha, of the terreiro. The life stories of African-Brazilians who have built Brazil as a nation. Brown’s reflections and performances fill the documentary with memory, popular culture, traditions, people’s resilience, faith and knowledge. He has left his profound mark in the history of Candeal, just as the history of Candeal has hugely influenced him. Carlinhos Brown and his soul epitomise the incredible strength and spirit of resistance which many African-Brazilian peoples reflect in the light of historical oppression, violence and challenges encountered through history. 

It is this spirit of resistance and resilience that has guided Carlinhos Brown during this challenging period caused by the pandemic, which has seen the lives and practices of many artists severely restricted. Umbalista – Brown’s latest album released in early February does exactly what millions of people require at this time, an injection of uplifting energy just in the period when Brazil’s carnival celebrations have been cancelled this year. The new album celebrates more than forty carnival festivals that the artist has taken part in, with old songs of his authorship that have been interpreted by other singers in the past, though never recorded by him until this album. The multidisciplinary artist concludes this piece with the following message, ‘Stay at home is an act of respect, courage and empathy. In 2022 we will make the biggest carnival seen in the history of this country, with full potency and responsibility.’ (22)

Contributions

Contributing-Guests: Djamila Ribeiro, Carlinhos Brown, Alba Darabi, Maxwell Alexandre, Dr Rodney William

Essay Editor: Author and Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, Dr. Emily Orr (RCA/V&A History of Design PhD)

Directors of Photography and Editors: Camila Silva, Swami Pimentel, Herlen dos Santos, Caio Rosa Espirito Santo, Rodrigo Lopes

Photography: Orquídea Marques, Iajima Silena

Production Assistant: Orquídea Marques

Videography: Thassio Ramos, Iury Taillan, Daniel Santos

Soundtrack and Sound Engineering: Paulo Ferreira, Victor Brasileiro, Daniel Santos

Translation and Subtitles: Mauricio Souza Neto

Special Thanks

I would like to express my immense gratitude to all those who have supported this relevant project throughout this last year, in particular the five contributing guests: Alba Darabi, Rodney William, Carlinhos Brown, Maxwell Alexandre, Djamila Ribeiro.

I would also like to thank: Emily Orr, Francisco Gonzalez, Herlen dos Santos, Camila Silva, Swami Pimentel, Kinha, Rúben Gonçalves, Raoni Saporetti, Orquídea Marques, Brenno Tardelli, Alexandre Marcussi, Crislayne Alfagali, Thiago Sapede.

Footnotes

1. Carla Akotirene, Interseccionalidade (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2018) 20

2. Silvio Almeida, Racismo Estrutural (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 29

3. Silvio Almeida, Racismo Estrutural (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 179

4. Sueli Carneiro, Escritos de uma vida (São Paul: Pólen Livros, 2019) 55

5. Adilson Moreira, Racismo Recreativo (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 23

6. Juliana Borges, Encarceramento em massa (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 21

7. Joice Berth, Empoderamento (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 153

8. Djamila Ribeiro, Pequeno manual antirracista (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019) 27

9. Djamila Ribeiro, Lugar de Fala (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 24, 25

10. Djamila Ribeiro, Pequeno manual antirracista (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019) 8

11. Alba Darabi, Everton Barreiro, Interview (London: via telephone, February, 2021)

12. Manoel de Oliveira, Letter to Alba Darabi (Bahia, Brazil: Photograph, 2000)

13. Alexandre Marcussi, Everton Barreiro, Questionnaire (London: via e-mail correspondence, 2020)

14. Sueli Carneiro, Enegrecer o feminismo: a situação da mulher negra na América Latina a partir de uma perspectiva de gênero; Ribeiro, Djamila. Lugar de Fala (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 28, 29

15. Maxwell Alexandre, Isabelle Bertolotti, Kiki Mazzucchelli, Maxwell Alexandre Pardo é Papel (Lyon: Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, Bernard Chauveau Édition, 2019) 7

16. Rodney William, Apropriação Cultural (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 20

17. Gene Lees, Singers & Songs II; Um abraço no Tom. William, Rodney, Apropriação Cultural (São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019) 150

18. Rodney William, Brazil, the untold story documentary interview (São Paulo: 2020)

19. Rodney William, Brazil, the untold story documentary interview (São Paulo: 2020)

20. Jon Pareles, Everyone Join In: Sing, Clap and Hug (New York: The New York Times, 2007)

21. Carlinhos Brown, Brazil, the untold story documentary interview (Salvador: 2020)

22. Carlinhos Brown, Brazil, the untold story documentary interview (Salvador: 2020)

Bibliography

William, Rodney. Apropriação Cultural. São Paulo: Polén Livros, 2019

Ribeiro, Djamila. Lugar de Fala. São Paulo: Polén Livros, 2019 

Berth, Joice. Empoderamento. São Paulo: Polén Livros, 2019 

Almeida, Silvio. Racismo Estrutural. São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019 

Akotirene, Carla. Interseccionalidade. São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2018 

Moreira, Adilson. Racismo Recreativo. São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019

Borges, Juliana. Encarceramento em massa. São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019

Carneiro, Sueli. Escritos de uma vida. São Paulo: Pólen Livros, 2019

Ribeiro, Djamila. Quem tem medo do feminismo negro. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2018 

Ribeiro, Djamila. Pequeno manual antirracista. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019 

Stilwell, Sean. Slavery and Slaving in African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014 

Marcussi A., Alexandre. Central African Utopias: redefining ancestry in Brazilian Calundus in the 17th and 18th centuries. São Paulo: Revista Brasileira de História, 2018

Marcussi A., Alexandre. Freedom and Solidarity: visions of captivity in 17th century African trial in Bahia. São Paulo: História, 2018

Conduru, Roberto. Pérolas Negras Primeiros Fios: experiências artísticas e culturais nos fluxos entre África e Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Editora da Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro, 2013 

Alexandre, Maxwell; Bertolotti, Isabelle; Mazzucchelli, Kiki; Leliévre, Matthieu. Maxwell Alexandre: Pardo é Papel. Lyon: Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, Bernard Chauveau Édition, 2019