Antonio Obá
Exercícios de reparação: figura no balanço, 2023
graphite and golden chinese ink on paper
grafite e nanquim dourado
grafite e nanquim dourado
41 x 33 cm
16 1/8 x 13 in
16 1/8 x 13 in
These drawings I name “reparation exercises” present a narrative that suggests an ironic response to a past of enslavement. This is what the figure on the swing represents, in a...
These drawings I name “reparation exercises” present a narrative that suggests an ironic response to a past of enslavement. This is what the figure on the swing represents, in a certain way. Apparently, she is a bather sitting on a swing – from which we can already grasp a sense of leisure or playfulness – suspended by the same chains used to restrain enslaved people in the colonial Brazil. I resort to this retake in creating a bond with the colonial past: although the figure implies the contemplation of an ironic narrative towards it, a subversive narrative defying this historical fact she does not erase, she does not submit to a subaltern existence due to the hurt either way. Notwithstanding, she shows a reverse attitude responding with wit. She now makes use of what had kept her imprisoned as support to reframe her own existence.