Jimmie Durham's Critique of Brazilian Colonialism and Indigenous Rights

In an Afterall essay by Maíra das Neves, the work of artist Jimmie Durham is examined through his engagements with Brazil, where he has criticized the country's colonial mentality and legal treatment of indigenous peoples. Durham first visited Brazil in 2005, speaking at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre and calling for a boycott of the 2006 São Paulo Biennial due to Brazil's legal classification of indigenous people as less than fully human. The boycott did not occur. In 2010, he participated in the 29th São Paulo Biennial with the installation 'Bureau for Research into Brazilian Normality,' which critiqued the glorification of bandeirantes and included a mirror to implicate viewers. That same year, his solo exhibition 'Circumstantial Evidence from Brazil' at Galeria Progetti in Rio de Janeiro used old wood and fictional texts to address colonial history. Durham's work highlights the ongoing legal inferiority of indigenous peoples under Brazil's 1916 Civil Code and the 1973 Statute of the Indian, despite the 1988 Constitution. He draws parallels between U.S. and Brazilian national myths, arguing that both celebrate genocide. The essay also notes a 2013 protest where the Monumento às Bandeiras was spray-painted with 'Bandeirantes assassinos,' which Durham supported.