Travelling Identities: Paulo Nazareth's Works on the Migratory Routes

Abstract

By employing an autobiographical form of narration in which self-representation is a way to explore his own roots and the diasporic identity of Latin Americans, the work of the Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth (1977) addresses the issue of immigration and emigration in contemporary Latin America. In particular, the experience of travel to the United States at the core of the artistic project News from the Americas (2011-2012), in which Nazareth transformed himself into an emigrant, becomes a reflection on the issues faced by contemporary global migrants and emigrants. By following an uncertain path from Latin America to the United States, travelled before him by the member of his family and his fellow citizens, Nazareth uses performance, photography and video as a means to investigate both his ancestors’ past and the historical, social, and racial constructs still present in Latin America and in the United States.