“Tupy or Not Tupy?” Examining Hybridity in Contemporary Brazilian Art

Abstract

Updating the 1920s notion of Anthropophagy developed to symbolize through cannibalistic ritual the process of cultural assimilation that influences art, this article examines issues of naming, describing, and representing contemporary Brazilian art. In the first part of the article, the work of four contemporary Brazilian artists recently exhibited in the United States frames criticism to the common practice of labeling contemporary artworks according to national identity. In the article's second section, Brazil's multifaceted cultural and artistic context will be used to outline implications for art education and institutional practices more attuned to the transnational dimensions of art. In conclusion, hybridity becomes a twofold framework. It describes, as Anthropophagy did before, cultural layering, negotiations, and disputes. It also articulates a political position more fitting to capture and interpret the art produced in our global age, not only in Brazil.