Mother, grandmother, artist and “dyke” are some of the words that describe milestones in the career of graffiti artist NeneSurreal. The journey mixes an artistic career over more than 30 years with a life story full of discoveries and obstacles. “I would like to talk only about my art. But, my art is my fight. They are very interconnected”, she says, surrounded by paintings and sculptures that she produced at her home in Diadema, in Greater São Paulo. The first experiences with graffiti were still in his late teens. “Today, we are in a very good moment in which women are really managing to paint. But, I come from a generation where I needed to prove I had the ability to do it. So, I was going to go deep into the wall [pintura preparatória]. She was going to look, to see if there were no police. Less paint actually. And even when I was actually painting, he [o trabalho] was directed [pelos grafiteiros homens]”, tells about what the street art scene was like at the time it started. Steel sculpting Nene was growing into the graffiti scene when she had her daughter Janine. “My daughter’s father was part of the movement, not the hip hop culture movement, but the gang movement. He was murdered here. My daughter was 3 years old”. At that time, the artist was 19 years old and had to look for a stable job that would guarantee her own livelihood and the upbringing of the girl, who is now 38 years old and is the mother of the graffiti artist’s three grandchildren – Helena, Fernanda and Henrique. She started working in the pantry of a large hospital in the capital of São Paulo and went on to become a surgical instruments technician, a profession that allowed her financial stability and also brought elements to her artistic production. She spent more than 20 years working in the health area. During this period, artistic work was intertwined with the world of surgical steel prostheses. The hospital itself, upon realizing Nene’s talent, began to pass on some of these materials to compose sculptures. “They donated a lot. I did a lot”, emphasizes the artist about the material that is difficult to work with because it is extremely resistant to conventional techniques. “I can’t weld, because it’s surgical steel. So, they [as esculturas] they are all screwed together”, he explains about the works mounted on cement bases. Graffiti artist Nenesurreal talks about her trajectory at the studio house in Diadema – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil The process of returning to producing art and even recognizing herself as an artist was not easy. “Women, once they are mothers, it’s over. It’s almost the end of any dream. Even with everything preventing this dream, I stayed with this pet and believed. I managed to get back. Because it’s not just wanting. There were several things that happened, several black women who were there, strengthening me, for me to return ”, she says about how, little by little, she left the stable profession to return to having her artistic career as the main focus of her life. Recognizing herself as an artist Between paths and detours, Nene decided to study visual arts. “I thought the college would give me a certificate to legitimize that I was an artist. Talking and feeling that I am an artist comes now, a few years ago. Not that I didn’t feel like an artist, but I looked very audacious, very boastful. [me definir como artista]”, comments. However, she ended up taking little advantage of what she studied in the classroom. “The gym for me ended up being at the bar. Because at the bar it was the rolê. At the bar I did scenography, I exchanged ideas on how to handle a material that I didn’t know how to use. I had project ideas. The academy is the street for me”. Facing the street is, for the artist, the very essence of graffiti. “Taking my body, going to the wall. [guarda], I stand with my back to the street. You have to have an attitude for that. You have to have courage for that”, he says about points he considers central in this form of expression. Issues that, according to her, gain even more weight in bodies like hers. “The street is not a place for us black women, for us black population, especially if you are facing the wall doing things that the system does not understand”, she says when differentiating this practice with other works that she develops. “Painting in a studio is another time. You don’t have to worry about your back,” she compares. Struggles Despite highlighting the risks offered by outdoor expression, Nene says that she also had to fight fights within the hip hop movement. “This movement is also sexist. It is racist, as much as it is a black movement. Because you can see that white people are the ones who drive this movement ”, she says It wasn’t just in the field of arts that she had to deal with prejudice. Today, at the age of 56, she reveals that her relationship with her own family became stormy when she assumed a new sexual orientation. “I assumed myself shoe [lésbica] aged 50. And to this day it’s megaviolent. I was raped many times with that word. And when I introduce myself, I introduce myself with that word. It’s not for people to call me. It’s a statement of my body. I have been taking off masks for many years.” In addition to her personal experience, the artist transformed her own home into a welcoming space for LBGTQIA+ people. “A girl comes to São Paulo, she needs a place to stay because she is going to do a job. She can stay here,” she explains. Of the family, she keeps fond memories of her grandmother, as the person who introduced her to the arts and crafts. “Handcrafts come from my grandmother, who used to do macramé and crochet”, she says when presenting the different languages that are part of her repertoire. Dream big Meanwhile, from the roof of the house, Nene continues to dream of new projects. It was from there, observing the neighborhood, that she created the series she calls Cabeçudas. “We were in the month of July, kite season. I looked at the black kids, you couldn’t even see them, nothing, just their silhouette. All with their heads looking to the sky. I was freaked out by that scene,” she recalls. It was these characters with oval heads, inspired by the silhouette of young people looking up, that Nene chose for the large mural she painted on the ceiling of the theater at Fábrica de Cultura in Jardim São Luís, in the south of São Paulo. The project demanded a lot from the artist and the team of women who painted it for a week, hanging from rappelling ropes on the ramp-shaped gable. “It was a job with a lot of difficulty, because of the issue of the body, the sun, the wind. Because you’re loose up there,” she says. The seven characters on the ceiling of the theater also have the hair in fine, curly strands that Nene considers one of her signatures, as well as the “sad eyes” of other figures she paints in the streets. The project, contemplated by an announcement that allowed the mural on the gable, includes a documentary, released last March, which celebrates Nene’s trajectory as one of the pioneers of graffiti. Among the recognitions that she accumulates in her career are the passage through the Queer Wien Woch Festival in Vienna, Austria; the Sabotage Prize, in 2016; and the tribute granted by the non-governmental organization Ação Educativa, in 2018. In 2021, one of her works became part of the permanent collection of the Pinacoteca Municipal de Mauá, in Greater São Paulo.
Agência Brasil
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