‘Staging Resistance’ is Jonathas de Andrade solo exhibition now on view at FOAM. For the occasion, Andrade is presenting 'The Battle of Tejucupapo', commissioned by the museum and hereby presented for the first time.
In April 1646, during the Dutch invasion on the Brazilian coast, the village of Tejucupapo, present-day Goiana, in the state of Pernambuco, bravely resisted, defeating the invaders due to female engagement. For thirty years, the ‘Teatro das Heroínas de Tejucupapo’ [Tejucupapo Heroines Theater] group has been staging the historic episode of the battle in open events, incorporating domestic objects as forms of weaponry for the war.
According to Andrade: “The Tejucupapo Heroines Theater keeps alive the burning flame in the fight against oppression and the defense of the land, taking a perspective of the strength of women – especially the tradition of black and indigenous women – and inspiring other social struggles fought in the tense local Brazilian political context.”
