Stela Schroeder
out and tries to understand the emergence of artists activists in the past ten years . Denominated artivists , they emerged in the cultural-political scene with several powerful , creative and provocative productions , which addressed sexual and gender dissidences . This form of creative political action was named Artivism , was defined by Raposo ( 2015 , p . 4 ) as a connection between art and activism that searches for the potential uses of art as an act of subversion and political resistance – it is as much a social cause as it is an artistic rupture . The relationship between Artivism and sexual and gender politics is not new , specially when thinking about feminism history , and it certainly is not recent in Brazil ’ s queer community . Dzi Croquettes tells us the story of the one group that managed to perform gender subverting theatre during the dictatorship years . Wonder ’ s activism dates back to the late 80s and 90s as we can see in Meu Amigo Claúdia , both in her music and artistic statements : when she bathed in fake blood as a response to the discrimination surrounding AIDS and the government ’ s failure to secure blood supplies ( Smallman , 2013 , p . 11 ) and their belief that this was “ an epidemic of minorities ” ( which is explored in depth in Carta Para Além dos Muros ); or her Vomit of the Myth show that she created to show transvestites are more than impersonation shows . Nowadays , we have figures like Linn da Quebrada , who exposes herself and her art to speak for the poor minorities living in favelas , and even Beyoncé as seen in Waiting For B , who while not queer herself , provides a safe escape for Brazil ’ s queer youth from the world that does include them .
To conclude , as much as Brazil ’ s queer history and community has been receiving positive representation in documentary cinema , the country ’ s deep-rooted homophobia is still an issue . In Rosenberg words , it is like a paradox : the LGBT movement in the past few years has transformed into one of the social movements with more expression in the country , so much that Sao Paulo ’ s Pride parade is considered to be biggest event of its kind in
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