Which skin colour are you? The human swatch chart
that confronts racism
In 1933, in a book called The Masters and the Slaves,
the Brazilian anthropologist Gilberto Freyre wrote: “Every
Brazilian, even the light-skinned, fair-haired one, carries
about him on his soul, when not on soul and body alike,
the shadow, or at least the birthmark, of the aborigine or
the negro.” This was forefront in the mind of the French
artist Pierre David when he moved to Brazil in 2009.
“When I was in the streets, I could see so many skin
colours”, he says. He decided to make a human colour
chart, like one you would find in the paint section of B&Q
shop, but showing the gradations and shades of our skin
colour. The project, called Nuancier or “swatches”, was
first shown at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Salvador –
Bahia, and is now on show in his native France. “Brazil
has a better attitude to skin colour than other developed
nations”, he says. “There's no doubt, because the concept
of skin colour difference was recognised very early in their
history. Now, it even appears on identity documents.”
Yet Nuancier, David says, is still a critique of
racism, in Brazil and around the world. “This work
may seem provocative – to classify men by colour,
to industrially produce the colour of an individual so
it can be store-bought. But this is a demonstration of
the commodification of bodies. It denounces racism
anywhere it is found in the world.”
SEYMOUR, T. Disponível em: www.theguardian.com. Acesso em: 21 out. 2015 (adaptado).
O artista francês Pierre David, ao evidenciar seu
encantamento com a diversidade de cores de peles no
Brasil, no projeto Nuancier, também
Which skin colour are you? The human swatch chart
that confronts racism
In 1933, in a book called The Masters and the Slaves, the Brazilian anthropologist Gilberto Freyre wrote: “Every Brazilian, even the light-skinned, fair-haired one, carries about him on his soul, when not on soul and body alike, the shadow, or at least the birthmark, of the aborigine or the negro.” This was forefront in the mind of the French artist Pierre David when he moved to Brazil in 2009. “When I was in the streets, I could see so many skin colours”, he says. He decided to make a human colour chart, like one you would find in the paint section of B&Q shop, but showing the gradations and shades of our skin colour. The project, called Nuancier or “swatches”, was first shown at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Salvador – Bahia, and is now on show in his native France. “Brazil has a better attitude to skin colour than other developed nations”, he says. “There's no doubt, because the concept of skin colour difference was recognised very early in their history. Now, it even appears on identity documents.”
Yet Nuancier, David says, is still a critique of racism, in Brazil and around the world. “This work may seem provocative – to classify men by colour, to industrially produce the colour of an individual so it can be store-bought. But this is a demonstration of the commodification of bodies. It denounces racism anywhere it is found in the world.”
SEYMOUR, T. Disponível em: www.theguardian.com. Acesso em: 21 out. 2015 (adaptado).
O artista francês Pierre David, ao evidenciar seu
encantamento com a diversidade de cores de peles no
Brasil, no projeto Nuancier, também
Gabarito comentado
Tradução: “Esse trabalho pode parecer provocativo - classificar os homens pela cor, produzir industrialmente a cor de um indivíduo para que ele possa ser comprado em loja. Mas esta é uma demonstração da mercantilização do corpo. Denuncia o racismo em qualquer lugar [...] ".
Conforme tradução do último parágrafo, o artista francês Pierre David, ao evidenciar seu encantamento com a diversidade de cores de peles no Brasil, no projeto Nuancier, também provoca uma reflexão crítica em relação à classificação e à mercantilização das raças.
Gabarito do Professor: D
