In 2022, on the centenary of the Modern Art Week and on the bicentennial of Brazil's Independence, the world was expecting some sort of celebration. Institutionally speaking, how much important those dates are for Brazil as a country? On one hand, we had to deal with the embarrassment of a then government that took away the Ministry of Culture and organized the “Heart of Don Pedro II´s world tour”, on the other hand, Brazilian artists clearly proposed another model of thought and action. Living in Portugal since 2020, I saw transatlantic battles being fought in response to what was happening in Brazil. Here, not only did the Brazilian colony make itself heard at the elections, but at theater and film festivals, in art galleries, at the World Cup, at maracatus and forrós that spread across foreign lands. As an immigrant artist, I reflect on the role that unexpectedly fell to me, as a spokesperson for the complicated issues of a nation in conflict with itself and in the writing of its own history. Being distant from the physical space called Brazil, I could experience new forms of belonging, more subtle, but which require dexterity in the occupation of spaces. This is an initial reflection on the meaning of exporting the culture of a country that still does not have lasting policies for the preservation and promotion of culture. Its history, mythology and art need to be treated as a matter of priority so that Brazil can fully exist, merging the Real Brazil (people´s reality) and Official Brazil (the institutional image).
