MASP

Virginia de Medeiros

Marineide Jesus da Silva, Guerrilheiras, da série Alma de Bronze, 2017

  • Author:
    Virginia de Medeiros
  • Bio:
    Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, 1973
  • Title:
    Marineide Jesus da Silva, Guerrilheiras, da série Alma de Bronze
  • Date:
    2017
  • Medium:
    Fotografia digital, impressão digital sobre papel de algodão
  • Dimensions:
    90 x 60 cm
  • Credit line:
    Doação das artistas no contexto da exposição Histórias das mulheres, histórias feministas, 2019-21
  • Object type:
    Fotografia
  • Inventory number:
    MASP.10992
  • Photography credits:
    Marcos Cimardi

TEXTS



By uncovering the complexity of insurgent micro-universes, Virgínia de Medeiros’ artistic explorations become life processes. Experimenting with technological, photographic and audio-visual resources, her work oscillates between documental language, fable-making and body presence. In Guerrilheiras [Guerrilla Fighters] (2017), the artist portrays twelve women who live in the Ocupação 9 de Julho [9 de Julho Squat], in São Paulo. They appear next to their tools, symbols of their work and struggle. The dialogue that emerges from the photographs draws on the image construction of female warriors and heroes personified by the characters’ bodies, in situations where the conflict is often everyday life itself. Questions such as “Do you consider yourself a contemporary guerilla fighter, a victorious woman?” and “What is your tool of power, of struggle?” were introduced by the artist in line with initiatives that instigate the practice of imagination as a political tool. These women make up the female decision-making power behind the Frente de Luta por Moradia (FLM) [Housing Struggle Front] and the Movimento Sem Teto do Centro (MSTC) [Downtown Homeless Movement], both from São Paulo. De Medeiros has been in close contact with the women leading these movements since 2016, when she took part in the Cambridge Art Residency Program, often collaborating in contexts that move beyond the art field, such as the recording of direct activism or day-to-day life inside the occupation. The project Alma de bronze [Bronze Soul] (2016–2018) emerged from this close relationship. Comprised of the photographic series exhibited in Feminist Histories and video testimonies with the female activists, the series bears witness to their interaction. Upon seeing De Medeiros’ production, the female power conjured by political activism is evident: a clash of forces able to erode the mechanisms of patriarchy and the capitalist system of control.

— Beatriz Lemos, master in social history of culture, PUC‑RJ, 2019

Source: Adriano Pedrosa, Isabella Rjeille e Mariana Leme (eds.), Women’s histories, Feminist histories, São Paulo: MASP, 2019.



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