Depending on which side you’re on, a rebellion can be seen as a struggle of the oppressed, trying to free themselves from (sometimes literal) bondage. Or
ArtReview
A room devoted to self-portraiture at Pinacoteca de São Paulo. All images: Levi Fanan. Courtesy Pinacoteca de São Paulo
Arts institutions formulate a rebuke to the conservative forces currently wreaking havoc in Brasilia – and scrutinise their own historic complicity
The leaders of Brazil’s state-funded arts institutions have found themselves in a bind ever since Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right presidency began at the start of 2019. Art was, or at least until the pandemic and Amazon fires took over the political agenda, an easy target for the president and his supporters, who found it tender prey in the politically expedient culture wars they are fond of whipping up, either picking up on its cost to the public purse or presenting work involving nudity as offensive to Christian morality. In one respect it has been an unfair battle, with the directors and curators of the institutions under attack, who might normally be among the first to defend the importance of ar