Artworks

Choque [Shock]

installation
Choque
Choque
© Bruno Lopes, cortesia Galeria Pedro Cera
Date

2019

Technique

Acrylic on broken laminated glass

Dimensions

240 x 305 cm (240 x 160; 220 x 200; 200 x 150; 130 x 130 cm)

These works are part of a conceptual architecture and interventional aesthetics, and provide reflection on the operating mode of established forces and the power of the State in today's society. The reactive expression to those forces has been explored throughout the years by Dora Longo Bahia, simultaneously denouncing and explaining dubious behaviours that develop with the suppression of resistance. - Choque ou Tropa de Choque
, the name given to the Brazilian special police in charge of the confrontation and contention of crowds and rallies, coinciding with the title of these works, is portrayed in a crude and visceral way.

Longo Bahia proposes a reflection on the identity ambiguity underlying the ideological assumption of safety and protection, and the consequent subversion established by the philosophy of fear and corruption, with data from the historical and political specific reality of contemporaneous Brazil.

Taking as reference the attacks on the shops during the São Paulo rally in 2013, this work emphasises the methods developed by the police. The medium of the works, acrylic paint on a group of partially juxtaposed plaques of laminated glass, superficially shattered, is also a metaphor for the countless commercial shop windows broken during the popular confrontations which, as we know, did not end in the best way. The portrayed police figures, with their faces covered and in an attack position, on a scale similar to the dimensions of a real human body, create an enormous visual and physical impact which, in an almost real life way, brings the reminiscence to the spectator who may virtually be part of the narrative.

Artworks

(1)

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  • Choque
    Choque

    Dora Longo Bahia