(Dis)cover-me afro-brazilian

Abstract

(DIS)COVERING within my poetics develops the double meaning that the word carries, both the act of removing what covers, opening, uncovering, and finding what was not known, spotting, revealing. By covering my self-portraits with paint, I build up a layered surface. These layers of paint that completely cover the images present in the self-portraits conceptually develop the idea of concealment. I choose to use the word concealment to state that, despite the strong attempt to erase Afro-Brazilian history and culture, these have always resisted, especially in cultural manifestations, art, dance, struggle, and in the religions that continue to be cultivated. By perceiving these layers, it became possible to re-signify them. Color as a possibility of re-signifying Afro visuality and color as a negative layer are concepts that coexist, one is transmuted into the other as one materializes, making the presence of the other possible. The act of covering oneself exposes the layers that cover my subjectivities, some traits of my personality and seeks to frame my plurality primarily as an individual and as a black person. In this visual essay, I evoke the visuality of this subjective and intimate process, the (Dis)covering of oneself.