Aspirant

Comprised of a photo-performance and an installation, the work Aspirant (2017) was conceived for the exhibition Não Matarás (Thou Shalt Not Kill) at the National Museum of the Republic, in direct response to the democratic breakdown following the 2016 impeachment. In a climate marked by the rise of conservative agendas and attacks on artistic freedom—with the National Congress as its political epicenter—the artist entered the Chamber of Deputies' Salão Verde (Green Hall) equipped with a domestic vacuum cleaner to extract the dust embedded in the carpets of power. The title explores the dual meaning of the word in Portuguese (aspiration), which encompasses both the mechanical act of suctioning debris and the human state of yearning or "aspiring" to a different future. The piece was completed by physically transporting the waste to the museum, where the dust collected from the Legislative branch was deposited under the gallery's carpet, which was kept propped up to reveal the accumulation. By materializing the idiom "sweeping dirt under the rug," the work creates a short-circuit between institutions, exposing the ethical and political residue that contaminates the ground where art seeks to resist.