A Giant by Thine Own Nature

Brazil is now considered one of the five emerging countries – together with Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) – that have sufficient means to become world powers in the next few decades. Yet there are still many obstacles to be overcome if this radical change is to take effect.

Brazil’s present situation is the setting that we have chosen as the concept for the exhibition A Giant by Thine Own Nature, a title taken from the country’s national anthem, which clearly and succinctly expresses two of Brazil’s enormous strengths: its extraordinary physical size and the powerful presence of nature in every order of everyday life.

Brazil is the central focus that serves to show the thoughts, impressions, feelings and vibrations that artists who are Brazilian or have lived in Brazil have about this country. The works that interpret these emotions cover a period that ranges from the 1940s to the present day.

This country and its artists have striven for a long time to achieve self-recognition, to distinguish their work from art produced by other countries, to show a singular, autochthonous, differential character of their own.

The linking theme that the exhibition follows is a clearly identifying element common to all Brazilian culture: rhythm. A cannibalistic rhythm that inundates, impregnates and phagocytes everything, a rhythm present in every event in the daily life of the people of Brazil.