Paulo Nazareth
L'Arbre D'Oublier, 2012-2013
04 single video performance - L'Arbre D'Oublier [Árvore do esquecimento], Cine África, Cine Brasil e Ipê Amarelo
27’31”, 7’34”, 15’10”, 10’34”
During the slave trade from the African continent to America the men and women who were taken from their lands and arrived at the port of departure into an unknowing...
During the slave trade from the African continent to America the men and women who were taken from their lands and arrived at the port of departure into an unknowing future - before crossing the Atlantic - had as their last alternative a ritual that had been taught by their ancestors: to revolve around the Oblivion Tree. The turns of these men and women would be responsible for the shattering of memory, erasing and canceling any relation with the memories and affectivities of the life before the kidnapping and traffic to the colonies. In the four presented videos - Ipê Amarelo | Cine Africa | Cine Brasil | L'Arbre D'Oublier - the artist walks these many laps. In choosing to turn back around the Oblivion Tree, Nazareth’s research somehow reconfigures the tragedy and return to the past, recalls that he was forced to forget.