Photo by Cristina Luisa
With an overwhelming movement of protest, the phenomenon of Brazilian graffiti commenced in the 1940s and '50s. Economic and societal problems were getting worse by the day, and people were fed up with the government. It seemed that everyone was eager to find a way to oppose the force that held them down. In the beginning, political parties started putting posters up in the streets, donning their slogans and stating their demands for human rights.
In the sixties, Brazilians took political protest, in the form of art, to a new level. Tropicalia (also known as Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB), or Popular Brazilian Music) had entered the stage as a musical and artistic movement. Graffiti artists started writing tropicalia song lyrics in their work. There was a military coup in 1964, led by Costa and Silva, however, which declared graffiti as a massive threat against the military. Graffiti continued throughout the rest of the sixties, but artists were much more clandestine, and its general visibility significantly diminished in popular culture.
While the military dictatorship still had its stronghold on Brazil in the mid 1970s, protest movements began calling for democracy with a vengeance. In this demand for social equality, graffiti artists played a key factor. Almost instantaneously, political messages started to surface across the country's city walls. Even though the messages were reminiscent of those in the 40s and 50s, this time the graffiti was even more daring. Graffiti artists were even more bold, determined, and fervent about taking back their public space. With the passage of each day, buildings were exponentially covered with thick, defiant words of command.
By the time the 1980s came around, graffiti art had become tolerated, and even accepted, by society and even the government. In the mid 80s, graffiti art was split in two main categories: graffiti art, and what is termed "pichacao" in Brazil. (Pichacao is a type of simple, chicken-scratch-esque, yet powerful, lettering sprayed on many types of buildings.) At this time, the world's main hub for graffiti emerged far north in New York City. Simultaneously, the hip hop movement in the U.S. was also flourishing, and both greatly influenced Brazilian graffiti artists. Hip hop resonated with the graffiti artists, and soon these artistic and musical worlds became intertwined. Upon the surfacing of this new style, Brazilian graffiti artists largely imitated the foreign images they saw in magazines and films.
Inevitably, with this North American influence, Brazilian artists took the fresh style that inspired them and adopted their own complex, distinctive style of graffiti. Brazilian artists began their own style of art. It was no longer dominated by European or U.S. persuasion. To be sure, Brazilian graffiti art still bore foreign influences, such as their tagging style, and the hip hop influence. Nonetheless, Brazilian artists were surging in self-confidence, ready to represent their cultural, artistic roots and capabilities.
Among these past cultural influences were indigenous art, Amazonian nature, the artistic style of "Antropofagia" created by Oswaldo de Andrade and Tarsila Amaral. African roots and customs, religion, and, of course, politics also played a surmounting role. In an interview with "Graphotism Magazine," the graffiti duo Os Gemeos ("the twins" in Portuguese) commented: "We are proud to be Brazilians and proud to be from Sao Paulo… to write incorrectly in Portuguese… to live some moments that seem eternal… To tell lies to the police. To know that our family loves us. To paint in the street with our clothes dirty from paint."
This, of course, would only mark the beginning of graffiti art's prominence in Brazil…
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