Pau-Brasil, 2014
The work Pau-Brasil (2014) by artist Thiago Honório is composed of a profile of Brazilwood (pau-brasil wood) that runs through Oswald de Andrade's book, occupying exactly the space on the cover where the title would be: Pau-Brasil. Published in 1925, the book, which features the main forms of the Brazilian flag on the cover, is composed of poems that were aligned with the Modern Art Week of 1922 and the thought of the Pau Brasil Manifesto of 1924. In the work of Thiago Honório, the piece of Brazilwood that impales the book is a material demonstration of cultural intersections full of violence and losses, whether in the context of the colonial period or in the theoretical ideals of Brazilian modernism.
The inequalities, racism and environmental issues that mark our society today began in the colonial period, with the exploitation of natural resources, violence against the enslaved, the expropriation and concentration of land and indigenous genocide, facts that have also been romanticized and softened during the search for a nationalist cultural conformation during the Modern Art Week of 1922.
Chico Cavalcante Porto (Architect and Urban Planner, researcher), Fortaleza, BR, June 1, 2020.
Work Details
Pau-Brasil, 2014
Facsimile of Oswald de Andrade’s book “Pau Brasil” (1925); pau-brasil wood
16 x 13 x 26 cm
6 5/16 x 5 1/8 x 10 1/4 in
photo: Edouard Fraipont
Exhibitons
Leituras, Biblioteca Mário de Andrade, SP, 2024
Brasil futuro: as formas da democracia, Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR, RJ, 2024
Brasil futuro: as formas da democracia, Centro Cultural Solar Ferrão, BA, 2023
Brasil futuro: as formas da democracia, Casa das 11 Janelas, Belém, PA, 2023
Brasil futuro: as formas da democracia, Museu Nacional da República, DF, 2023
Histórias Brasileiras, Museu de Arte de São Paulo – MASP, SP, 2022
Alegria, uma invenção'', Central Galeria, SP, 2022
Nuestra América, Galeria Luisa Strina, SP, 2020
Brasil Desamparado: Verzuimd Braziel, Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina –
MASC, SC, 2018
Brasil Desamparado: Verzuimd Braziel, Museu Histórico Nacional, RJ, 2018
Brasil Desamparado: Verzuimd Braziel, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Goiás, GO, 2018
Poesias reunidas, Museu Lasar Segall, SP, 2017
“... pegaríamos as coisas onde elas crescem, pelo meio”, Galeria Blau Projects, SP, 2014
Brasil Desamparado: Verzuimd Braziel, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Goiás, GO, 2018
Poesias reunidas, Museu Lasar Segall, SP, 2017
“... pegaríamos as coisas onde elas crescem, pelo meio”, Galeria Blau Projects, SP, 2014