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Showing posts from May, 2013

Brazil celebrates 125 years without slavery, or does it?

The 13th of May this year it was exactly 125 years since the "Lei Á urea" (The golden law) was signed by Princess Isabel in 1888. Slavery was thereby declared abolished in Brazil. Since I am currently living here I thought it would be a great experience to see how Brazil celebrates this day, but I ran into some obstacles along the way.  First of all, it was very difficult to even find an event. In my mind I had pictured a big parade but the only event I could find was at UERJ, the state university of Rio de Janeiro. Secondly it was even more difficult to find the precise location of the event when I arrived at the university. Neither the students nor the teachers had even heard about it. Finally, with a lot of help, I found it and to my disappointment there were only between 20-40 people attending.   The event consisted of a demonstration of an afro-Brazilian folk dance and a panel discussion about education, racism and affirmative action. Furthermor

”Come as you are”- exhibition with Calé

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Gallery Image in Aarhus presented the Brazilian art photographer Calé. He had his opening of the exhibition on Friday the 12 th of April; it is the first solo exhibition he has had in Scandinavia.   The exhibition consists of two series: Seekers and Elo . With the serie   Seekers , we are introduced to portraits of people who are placed central in the picture, with the urban scene behind. But it is impossible to see exactly who the person in the portrait is. The persons are blurred and overexposed while the background stands out sharp with the focus and color.   The pictures give the impression that it is not important who the person in the picture is. It could be anyone. With the serie   Elo , two men are embracing each other in different public places. With this project, Calé concentrates his attention to the reaction from the people around the embracing men. The reactions from the surrounding people probably reflect their own limits for expressing love,