2023

The most terrible of our inheritances is carrying with us the scar of the torturer imprinted on our souls, ready to explode in racist and classist brutality. This is what still burns within many Brazilian authorities today, predisposed to torture, mistreat, and harm the poor who fall into their hands. However, it also provokes growing indignation, which will give us strength tomorrow to restrain the possessed and create a society based on solidarity."  
—Darcy Ribeiro in The Brazilian People

One of the most absurd events of 2016 was the impeachment session of President Dilma Rousseff. With pathological refinement of cruelty, then-lower-house deputy Jair Bolsonaro added to his vote the phrase, "In memory of Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, the terror of Dilma Rousseff." There was little reaction within the power structures to this sadistic statement, which recalls the torture the president endured during the dictatorship and also proved to be a preview of four years of disrespect for civil rights to come.

If this happened to a woman in one of the most prominent positions in the country, what are others, less socially and economically privileged, subjected to? Born into a family with a grave case of violence against women, Gabriela Noujaim addresses this indignation through art, with works highlighting the feminist struggle. The pieces, which were exhibited at the National Museum of the Republic in Brasília in the solo show "Resistance Latin America," are now on display at the Museum of the Republic in Rio de Janeiro.

**Be a martyr, be a heroine**  
The Palácio do Catete served as the presidential headquarters from 1897 to 1960 and was the stage for 18 presidents, immortalized in photographs hung side by side on the wall. In contrast, just a few meters away, in the room opening Gabriela Noujaim's exhibition, is the installation "Museum of Women" (2023).

The work recalls the lives and struggles of 16 revolutionary women fighters, such as councilwoman Marielle Franco, pharmacist Maria da Penha, Cuban artist Ana Mendieta, indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara, writer Conceição Evaristo, among others. A graduate in Printmaking from UFRJ, the artist printed these faces on red velvet, which appear and disappear as the viewer moves in front of them.

The technique is also used in the book *Latinamérica* (2020), an experiential box containing works in various mediums and texts on the negative impact of the pandemic on women's lives. The work reveals issues such as precarious working conditions, increased domestic violence, along with cases of deaths from the virus among indigenous women and other vulnerable groups.

In addition to the book, during the pandemic, the artist printed the map of Latin America in red on surgical masks, sending them to health professionals across different Brazilian states. The red map is a recurring element in her work, taking on different meanings, such as a tear in one of the pieces.

The artist herself is present, printed on a monumental flag, holding the map. The history of the continent is written in blood. Gabriela Noujaim, who has a close relationship with indigenous movements, appears with her face painted red: be it a mark of struggle or of death. Resistance is present in the form of words. The white outline reinforces all the existences and narratives that disappeared or never happened due to colonialism. The feminine fragility of a region that regularly bleeds.

In the same vein that addresses the motherland, the artist discusses the origin land, the soil, and home of the indigenous peoples, tackling deforestation, invasions, and massacres. The exhibition has a very defined palette of red, magenta, pink, and explores relationships, affections, and wounds.

It's curious to think that this series of works, with so many material elements like paper, fabric, and paint, and manual techniques like screen printing and embroidery, will ultimately be digitized to occupy a space in the metaverse. In this new layer of reality, like a young Latin America, it will be possible to write other stories and narratives, now truly marked by the female presence.

The exhibition "Resistance Latin America" by Gabriela Noujaim is curated by Sissa Aneleh and organized by the Women's Museum. The Museum of the Republic is located at Rua do Catete 153. Open from Tuesday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission.

Domi Valansi is a journalist focused on visual arts and museums with a postgraduate degree in Photography as a research tool in social sciences.

GABRIELA NOUJAIM: RESISTANCE LATIN AMERICA
UNTIL MAY 4  
MUSEUM OF THE REPUBLIC  
RIO DE JANEIRO

Domi Valansi