Dissident Practices: Brazilian Women Artists, 1960s–2020s

In Dissident Practices, Claudia Calirman examines sixty years of visual art by prominent and emerging Brazilian women artists from the 1960s to the present, covering the period from the military dictatorship to the return to democracy in the mid-1980s, the social changes of the 2000s, the rise of the Right in the late-2010s, and the recent development of an overtly feminist art practice. Though they were lauded as key figures in Brazilian art, these artists still faced adversity and constraints because of their gender. Although many of them in the 1960s and 1970s disavowed the term feminism, Calirman gives a nuanced account of how they responded to authoritarianism, engaged with trauma in the aftermath of the military dictatorship, interrogated social gender norms, and fought against women's objectification. By battling social inequalities, structures of power, and state violence, these artists create political agency in a society in which women remain targets of brutality and discrimination.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments  ix Introduction  1 1. Political Practices  14 2. Discursive Practices  58 3. Transgressive Practices  108 4. Practices of the Self  148 To Be Continued  187 Notes  193 Bibliography  219 Index  237

About the Author :
Claudia Calirman is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Music at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of Brazilian Art under Dictatorship: Antonio Manuel, Artur Barrio, and Cildo Meireles, also published by Duke University Press.

Review :
"Calirman’s use of the notion of resistance as the book’s central throughline effectively grounds these artists’ disparate works in a rich, nuanced, and concrete sociocultural context. We are presented, then, not with a narrow history of women’s art, but rather with a much broader history of social resistance from the point of view of women artists. . . . This book’s rich archive will plant the seeds of future research projects, and the unanswered questions that the book left me with will be soon taken up." - Megan A. Sullivan (Revista) "Calirman makes the case that the work of many Brazilian women artists in the late 20th century has been read exclusively through the lens of various feminist movements, even when these creators did not principally affiliate with them. . . . This sharp observation sets the stage for a revelatory reassessment of the legacy of women artists in Brazil during the tumultuous six-decade period from the rise of Brazil’s military dictatorship through the present." - Valentina Di Liscia (Hyperallergic) "In this concise, theoretically sophisticated, and meticulously researched book, Calirman surveys the work of activist women artists, some trans and queer, in the context of recent Brazilian history and the increasingly global art world. . . . This is an important addition to the literature, especially to the scholarship on modern and contemporary Brazilian art available in English. Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty." - E. Douglas (Choice) "Calirman expertly contextualizes the work of significant Brazilian women artists within the political and social environments of their time." - Christine Rosa (ARLIS/NA Reviews) "Dissident Practices has many merits. It is an artistic, social, and historical experience throughout time and through the eyes of women artists. Calirman explores a myriad of views that ponder the multiplicity of voices as well as the historical changes and challenges faced by Brazilians throughout the last sixty years. . . . By bringing together multiple and dissident practices as a guiding force, Calirman turns the book into an almost permanent act of discovery and reflection regarding women artists and the condition of women in Brazil during the past few decades." - Ana Fauri (A Contracorriente) "Ultimately, Dissident Practices challenges scholars in the field to continue research on a subject matter that is of immense importance in the moment. Because of this, Dissident Practices serves as a critical reading for both graduate students and established scholars in the field." - Patricia J. Stout (The Latin Americanist)