Man and his Sheep - Ana Maria Pacheco

Ana Maria Pacheco
Man and His Sheep, 1989
Sculpture, polychromed wood, Jura Marble base
200 x 450 x 400 cm | 6ft 7 x 14ft 9 x 13ft 1½ in
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Collection

I took my own  photographs of this on a visit to Birmingham a few weeks ago. The video gives an
idea of the scale and the positioning of the sculpted figures, but flattens the features. The furtive faces carved from heavy wood are in a contrast to similar carved Baroque saintly figures found in Brazilian churches,  and this is the real expression of the purpose of the piece. The Gallery has some examples of the latter in a seperate room, but the scuptures are from Europe - mainly Austria and Germany.

 Man and his Sheep is a deliberate comment on the affect of the Ditadura (Brazilian Dictatorship of 1964 - 84) on culture, on censorship and of course on political leadership.  It also references a specific element of the course of the Military take over in 1964, which was a series of marches by Catholic Women against `Communism` (Marcha da Família com Deus pela Liberdade).  However it is important to note this is not a dualistic historical divide, and in some parts of Brazil members of the Catholic church were executed and tortured for opposing the regime and promoting `Liberation Theology` - which is about trying to alter economic inequality. Of course political oppositions do not always involve religion - but the following of a leader can be similar. In this case it is important to note the blood on the hands of the nearly naked man with his shepherds crook in front of the women.

In an oppressive regime rumour, gossip and spying on others is the tool of selecting victims for torture, and so retience becomes a necessity.

But public display of unity such as Brazil`s frequent religious processions or the long tradition of Carnival can be manipulated. In the traditional black covered costume of the old Portuguese widow`s garb, with an image of strong commitment to church and respectability, these figures betray their participation in covering up an invidious murderous reality, yet at the same time their furtive glances show the fear with which they take part and their suspicion of their neighbours.

 Portugal, Spain and Greece had similar regimes in the same era. So did South America, and the history of United States involvement in such dictatorships as a part of the Cold War is something which continues to maim relationships between the two Americas to this day. Ana Maria Pacheco left Brazil in 1973, as many young Brazilian artists did, and has lived and worked in Britain effectively in exile.

References of interest:

 

Whistler, Catherine. Opulence and Devotion: Brazilian Baroque Art. Oxford : Brasil Connects/Ashmolean Museum. 2001. (Exhibition Catalogue with essays and illustrations).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff

A biography of the current President of Brazil, who was arrested and tortured during the Ditadura for her political opposition to the loss of democracy

Torres, Mateus Gamba. Lutar para manter, lutar para romper:

mulheres e a ditadura militar brasileira 

Em Debat: Rev. Dig., ISSNe 1980-3532, Florianópolis, n. 4, p. 93-105, 2010. 

(Doutorando em História Social (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul-UFRGS) 
 http://www.periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/emdebate/article/view/21786

First exhibiton of Pacheco`s work in Brazil opens this month, November 2012

http://www.taste.com.br/cesar-giobbi/item/8982-ana-maria-pacheco.html