-
5. Ayrson Heráclito
- University Press of Florida
- Chapter
- Additional Information
F I V E Ayrson Heráclito Ayrson Heráclito (b. 1968) is a multimedia artist based in the northeastern state of Bahia. In his work, he utilizes forms and materials that have become synonymous with this part of Brazil, and especially its Africandescendant population, in innovative ways. Heráclito is inspired by many of the familiar signs and themes from Candomblé. However, his artistic process is vastly different from that of other artists who also incorporate religious influences in their work. He is known for using regional gastronomic elements in his performances and installations. In creating artworks with sugar, dendê, and carne de charque, Heráclito explores local history and culture at the same time that he makes a transnational reference to Africa and its influences on Brazil. His signature approach and execution has resulted in a new style of black art from this much-discussed region of Brazil. Heráclito’s complicated relationship with Bahia was as much shaped by his provincial upbringing as his later university studies. He was born in Macaúbas, Bahia, where historically Europeans and their cultural customs dominated over those of the indigenous Amerindian and later enslaved African populations. This disjuncture among different groups of peoples fostered a distinct social climate. As a young boy, Heráclito experienced the countryside’s rigid “ethical, behavioral, and . . . racial code,” which was different from what he later experienced in Salvador, the regional capital, where there was greater social acceptance of African influences (Interview by the author, May 24, 2009). Macaúbas’ history of cultural conflict and socially conservative environment was the backdrop for the controversy that surrounded his parents’ marriage, even between their own families. Heráclito ’s mother is white, of Portuguese and Italian descent, and his father black, of African and Amerindian heritage (Interview by the author, May 24, 2009). In the 1960s, their interracial union in Macaúbas was somewhat of an aberration. Heráclito’s mother had a strong influence on the artist and his siblings. A history professor and rather progressive woman, she passed her passion Ayrson Heráclito 111 for education onto her children. Heráclito also credits one of his childhood teachers, the daughter of famed Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues, with introducing him to “critical thinking and social engagement” (Videobrasil 2008a). As an adult, Heráclito has made historical investigations a key theme in his art. He shares this interest in history with his brother Beto, who, like their mother, is a historian and who has accompanied the artist in the process of several of his projects. Beto has also written about his brother’s production in the publication, Ayrson Heráclito: Spaces and Actions (2003). For the past three decades, Heráclito has based himself mainly in Salvador. He came to the city to study architecture and art education in the 1980s. Much to his parents’ consternation, he eventually gave up architecture to focus on art and received his Bachelors degree from the Catholic University of Salvador in Arts Education with a specialization in Fine Arts. After teaching art in public schools around the region for five years, he returned to Salvador to pursue graduate studies. Heráclito subsequently earned his M.A. in Fine Arts from the Federal University of Bahia in 1998. He currently lives in Salvador and is a professor at the Federal University of Recôncavo. Heráclito’s impact on the contemporary Brazilian art scene has been overwhelmingly regional thus far. It is surprising he has not had more of a national presence given his choice of subject matter, location in the geographical locus of studies of African cultural retentions, and willingness to discuss his work. Also somewhat unexpected is the fact that he did not participate in any of the large-scale exhibitions of Afro-Brazilian art that took place in the 1990s. Certainly, however, these shows tended to feature artists who were already more established in their careers at that time than Heráclito. It is likely that Heráclito’s somewhat novice status and lack of contact with Emanoel Araújo, the key interpreter of Afro-Brazilian art and curator of most of these shows, precluded his inclusion. More recently, Heráclito’s work has gained critical attention through his participation in the Third Mercosul Biennial, held in Porto Alegre in 2001, and the 15th and 16th International Festivals of Electronic Art, organized by Videobrasil in São Paulo in 2005 and 2006, respectively. He has also participated in a...