Brown Bag Lunch is an interactive collage inspired by the 1895 painting, Ham’s Redemption by Modesto Brocos. The project highlights how the construct of racial whiteness is named, taught, embodied, and visualized between the United States and Brazil.
This project references different culturally specific symbols tied to miscegenation. It also implicates the nuances of how racial difference and skin complexion are understood or named between two “New World'' countries with different legacies of colonization. Some of these references are specific to the history of the United States such as the Brown Paper Bag Test. Other references include a 1976 national survey conducted across Brazil where respondents were allowed to write in whatever answer they wanted when asked to declare their skin color or race. Many of the words in these survey answers took the form of food. For a full experience , please open this site on a desktop.
Inspired by asynchronous remote learning strategies, early childhood television and second-language learning in classrooms, this project will ask you to examine the following :
- What is the pace at which you have been taught to learn?
- How have you been instructed to answer and interpret questions?
- In what ways have you been forced to make your identity legible or digestible for the convenience of others?
Resources:
“Ham’s Redemption”, Modesto Brocos ; 1895Brown Paper Bag Test
PNAD Survey 1976
