Brazilian Activist Art in Transformation – Building an Identity Through Memory

• In Event: Frankfurt School in Latin America

Abstract

My presentation will discuss reflections on Brazilian dispossessed and misplaced ideas, identifying an alternative to a different movement in the periphery by means of art analysis and resemblance with the peripheral reality. The paper will examine how literature and visual arts triggered a critical view in the Brazilian socio-political context: facing the Brazilian identity in formation with
the critical reflection of the similarities and differences of Backlands (Euclides da Cunha’s Os Sertões), Quarup (Antonio Callado’s masterpiece) and Man Market for
Death (Eduardo Coutinho’s film). I will analyze the development of awareness and self-recognition from a
peripheral perspective under the influence of Frankfurt School Philosophy in Brazil, and the critical analysis of the art under the influence of capital and culture industry in the periphery from late nineteenth century to the twentieth century.

Author

• Guilherme Martins Pinheiro