Watú is not dead!

Abstract

This article aims to present the artworks of 11 contemporary Brazilian artists who were part of the exhibition Watú is not dead!, presented at the IEB/USP in 2022. These artists discussed general current issues, such as gender and race, the destruction of forests, and its native people, the increasing dependency of the contemporary individual on technology, in addition to Brazil's place in a global development plan. The discussion also focuses on the annulment of the intellectual production of women, blacks, lgbtqia+, indigenous and poor people. The exhibition, as well as the article, aims to demonstrate, through the diversity of positions, places of origin and non-binary gender statements, how Brazil is permanently in check, due to violence, social injustice, the elimination of collective memory, environmental destruction, and the population’s restriction to the wealth so often promised by the rulers of all times.