“Strands of Resistance: Art for the Desaparecidos in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, 1965-1980”

My research traces how Brazilian artists first grappled with their relationship to modernism as they sought to break out of narratives imposed by the West, and later with a contentious history and culture formed under military regimes. I am analyzing the social and historical stakes around the term “los desaparecidos” as many people went missing during the military dictatorship. “The disappeared” function as a framework to exemplify and parallel how indigenous populations have faced physical and territorial displacement, similarly to the historiographical disappearance and physical act of murdering groups of people by the state apparatus. My research is specific to Brazil, as well as the transnational discourse that simultaneously occurred to escape the ongoing censorship that was occurring. The expected outcome is to gain access to archival research located within Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo under the supervision of Dr. Roberto Conduru – a specialist in Brazilian art history.

Faculty Supervisor:

T'ai Smith

Student:

Jacqueline Witkowski

Partner:

Discipline:

History

Sector:

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Globalink Research Award