Arte urbana e imagéticas negras no espaço urbano em territórios embranquecidos na cidade de Fortaleza-CE.

Abstract

This dissertation arises from a journey through territories and memories, the result of years of experiences in a whitened academic space and the need to contest it. In the city of Fortaleza, the study highlights the old territory of Outeiro da Prainha and the whitened areas of the Aldeota and Meireles neighborhoods, symbolizing both the resistance and the resignification of the black presence in a space that was systematically whitened. The research mobilizes black imagery, which refers to the way black people are visually represented (BARBOSA, 2019), present in these territorial locations, valuing them as expressions of art, culture and memory that bring with them a gesture of symbolic occupation in whitened territories. Territories such as Outeiro da Prainha, whose memories of occupation and tradition have been largely made invisible, are highlighted here through the emphasis given to visual manifestations, constituting an investigative path in which the symbolic dispute over the black and indigenous presence is established. Through incursions into the neighborhoods of Aldeota, Meireles and Centro, the potential for affecting these black images is explored, allowing the research to read these manifestations as acts of refusal to disappear in the face of the whitening forces of local urbanism, but also to understand the nuances and contradictions found from the traps of the images. Refusal takes shape through urban artistic manifestations such as graffiti, muralism and pixação, which transcend resistance to become re-existences. There is also a return to moments where urban art in Fortaleza finds the street as its place of support, for example in the 40s with the practices of the artist Chico da Silva. It is understood that black cultural representations are inscribed in the territory not only as a contestation, but as a reaffirmation of political and cultural identities, tensioning established borders. Finally, this work sought to document and record the culture of a time and place , reaffirming the memories and identities that persist even in adverse contexts, celebrating the voices and traits that resonate in the whitened urban spaces of Fortaleza, expanding the understanding of the participation of urban art in this context.