Brushing the frontier identity, the artist created a 166 m² mural – Artes

2023-06-15 13:45:00

Angela Silva’s work began in March of this year and has already been completed by the artist

Wall of 166 m² began to be “built” in March of this year. (Photo: Disclosure)

Based on external testimonials and her own interpretations, artist and teacher Angela Silva created a 166 m² mural to illustrate the frontier identity on the IFMS (Federal Institute of Mato Grosso do Sul) campus in Ponta Porã. Can be seen from BR-463, the work has already become a striking part of the landscape.

Three years ago, after Angela participated in a muralism event in Mexico City and dedicated herself to painting in Ecuador, the desire to feel art as a study and profession intensified. From there, ideas began to emerge.

“My relationship with painting on walls and walls arises from a desire to amplify the voice, I think. Drawing and painting, for me, has always been a kind of voice, a way of communicating something that I don’t know how to see and speak very well”, he explains about their relationship.

From the logic that creating a mural means inviting other people to the conversation, the artist’s goal is to share a dialogue that is not restricted. And, in the specific case of the mural created in Ponta Porã, the idea was to create reflections on what is called border identity.

Angela explains that the whole process involved initial testimonials from the community. (Photo: Disclosure)

Explaining the elements, Andrea comments that everything was thought of based on responses obtained during an investigation phase with the community and interviews with five relevant people in the cultural sector. “Some people said that living on the border is natural, that there is transit between countries without this being something thought about, so the presence of birds there, in a way, represents this naturalness of transit”.

The red in the background refers to the violence present since the genocide of native peoples during the colonization process to the current context involving drug trafficking, something mentioned by one of the interviewees. “He said there’s a lot of blood running off the bodies at our border,” he says.

Continuing with the elements, the woman embroidering a fabric in the sky refers to ancestry, “nature exists and resists before and after humanity, this was a way of representing this understanding that is also related to the speech of one of the interviewees who mentioned the fact of the sun rising in one country and setting in another”.

Intense, the work brings together elements to illustrate the frontier identity. (Photo: Disclosure)

Lastly, the two girls in the artwork represent the two nations, “young and close”. Now, with the art ready, Angela comments that people’s reactions have been the best possible.

“I often say that I am very lucky to have discovered in this life something that I love doing as much as I love painting walls. The exchange with people during the process is something that public painting favors and that it does very well”, points out the artist.

Contemplated by the FIC (Cultural Investment Fund), the work was promoted by the FCMS (Fundação de Cultura de Mato Grosso do Sul) through the Setescc (Secretary of State for Tourism, Sport, Culture and Citizenship), of the Government of the State of Mato Grosso southern. Artistic work is also supported by UFMS.

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