Untitled, Para Venda

2011

Photo printing on cotton paper

80 x 60 cm (31 1/2 x 23 5/8 in.)

Composing a wacky, provocative diptych, the untitled photographs of the Para Venda (For Sale) series show Paul Nazareth either with the lower jaw of a small animal attached to his mouth, or his face hidden behind an animal's severed head. His self-portraits in which he wears a piece of cardboard with the inscription Para venda (for sale) are at once humorous, political declarations and questionings about identity.

The common denominator of the Brazilian artist's artworks is testimony, as he improvises critical representations while traveling. Wearing maxims that attest to his status as a good that can be exchanged for cash, he expresses with self-deprecating humor the risk inherent to his Afro-Brazilian and Amerindian origins, which are swept by national identity.

This diptych that exemplifies Paulo Nazareth's wandering oeuvre was first presented by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition Dancing With Myself at the Museum Folkwang in Essen (2016).
Exhibitions