m a t e u v e l a s c o
New York, 1980
m a t e u v e l a s c o
New York, 1980
under construction
Barra do Garças, MT - 1991
Lives and works in São Paulo, SP
Multimedia artist and poet, born in 1991 in the Araguaia Valley (Barra do Garças/MT - Aragarças/GO), a border region between Goiás and Mato Grosso, a well-known route and gateway to the Legal Amazon, a crucial place to understand the essence and motivations of his work.
His research emerges from his experience in the backlands of the center-west, marked by the configuration of his mixed-race and marginalized family, the artist investigates the construction of Brazil by confronting the projects of identity, memory and oblivion that sustain official history, as he seeks answers about its own origin.
In 2022, Hal Wildson received the Artistic Residency Award at the Salão Nacional Arte Pará 40th Edition, held by the Inclusartiz Institute, in Rio de Janeiro. And in 2019, he won first place in the “Art on paper” category at SESI Arte e Criatividade (Goiás) with the work “Amidst the ruins, the reconstruction”.
works
"REFLORESTAR O IMAGINÁRIO" SERIES
The series “Reforesting the Imagination” carries poems in the form of flags. The hoisted phrases reflect the theme, through the artistic poetic perception, of “reforesting” the imagination of the Amazon and generating knowledge capable of creating new horizons beyond the ongoing project of erasure since 1500. The paths of the rivers in the hydrographic basins that flow through Brazil and neighboring countries are important elements that, When embroidered on the flags, visually complement the printed poems and invite us to understand the riverbeds as constant threads of memory.
The series highlights the importance of knowledge and the preservation of forests as an essential part of our ancestry.
Reflorestar
Double-sided embroidery on Oxford fabric
Edition: 5
90 x 128 cm
2023
"ID DOCUMENTS" SERIES
A carteira de identidade oficializa, com uma foto 3 x 4 da bandeira e um mapa no lugar da impressão digital, a herança colonizadora, escravocrata e conservadora do Brasil. Neste trabalho, Hal Wildson, nascido no Vale do Araguaia, região fronteiriça de Goiás e Mato Grosso, investiga documentos pessoais e oficiais como ferramentas de manipulação de memórias. O artista discute como a criação do Brasil foi moldada por ficções e projetos de poder, permeada por uma história oficial controlada pelo olhar do opressor. O documento torna se suporte para a oficialização das formas de apagamentos sociais e o estado de crise de suas instituições, colocando em questão a formação e a identidade do povo, dentro de uma noção imposta de identidade nacional.
(Revista SeLect edição 2022 (Arte e Política), texto Luana Rosiello
"UTOPIA ORIGINAL" SERIES
Through the concept of Utopia (whose etymology means "no place"), the idea of a country under construction, and extensive research on popular demonstrations in Brazil, the artist appropriates various public domain images and creates a new image, a "Reinvented Utopia" based on social struggles and public protests. The artist questions the concept and origin of the "Brazilian Utopia" and delves into research using documentation techniques to create a fictional-documentary image, where contemporary issues are debated and the way we tell and document history is questioned.
"REPÚBLICA DA DESIGUALDADE - MERITOCRACIA SEJA LOUVADA" SERIES
This series appropriates the symbolic load of the “ the photographic power of memory records in Brazil as well as the motto of a society that believes in merit as the solution to poverty hunger and lack of opportunities Hal Wildson alludes to the most valuable Real note The works are deliberately bigger than an original ballot showing an illusory speech, worthless and full of promises that has been told to Brazilian people for centuries.
