Friday, June 3rd, 15.30 – 18.30, at Università di Verona, Room 1.1
Abstract:
This paper introduces the work of the French photographer JR in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the documentary Waste Land about the Brazilian visual artist Vik Muniz's work with "catadores" (garbage pickers) in Rio's garbage dumps, and José Junior's cultural vision as epitomized in AfroReggae. These projects are seen here as cultural/aesthetic interventions in one of the most violent cities in the world in terms of the numbers of actual killings and also with respect to structural forms of violence underlying the social, political and economic functioning of the city. As such, the paper takes up the question, articulated in the call for papers, of what art, as a form of social activism, can do to implement non-violence even in adverse circumstances. The above works of art are discussed in terms of visibility, recognition and reduction.
