Sem título, da série Histórias de avião

Best known for his extended performance works, founded on the act of walking across continents on foot, Paulo Nazareth’s material practice often collates souvenirs, photographs, and film footage from his journeys as a display of the connections that exist between the people, places and histories he encounters. Specifically interested in uncovering lost social and political histories of his native Brazil, and of South America more generally, his early work Sem titulo, da série Histórias de avião (2008) pays homage to the life of Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont who in 1903 flew the first successful aircraft, without the aid of a catapult, 3 years prior to the Wright brothers’ Flyer. With his simple memorializing gesture, Nazareth highlights the historiographical divide which generally privileges the achievements and developments of the Northern Hemisphere at the neglect of the Global South.

The work consists of a collection of toy aircraft models which reference Santos-Dumont, and acknowledge his status as a national hero. Working through processes of selection and presentation, his engagement with found objects seizes upon the sphere of art as a narrative space. Bringing various elements together as he does, he “seeks to embody the idea of the artist as a connector, a decoder, and a philosopher.” Signaling quietly, Nazareth rarely presents a finish product, but rather exploits the ephemerality offered by found traces, declaring his main interest as being “the fragility of life,” and its “precariousness.”

–Elsa Gray