Vol. 27 No. 298 (2023)
Multicolor, heterogeneous and multi-gender
Originating in the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece, Carnival is celebrated year after year and everywhere until today. It is a popular festival with religious roots that underwent prohibitions and censorship in the darkest periods. The celebration takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Gualeguaychú, Venice, Huejotzingo, Oruro, Montevideo, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Binche, among other places, where each participant sings and dances, expressing their art in murgas, escolas do samba or comparsas.
People gather, the more and more diverse, the better, in a party of multicolored, heterogeneous, multi-gender, multi-ethnic corporeality, far from any rationality and very close to humor and irreverence. It is a place and time of commemoration, of tradition, of lack of control, of freedom to be and to share, where creativity and fantasy manifest themselves in colorful masks and costumes, on floats or giant heads.
There the hierarchies are altered, and for those few days, the carnival legitimately represents the popular identity. Every year, for a few magical moments, part of humanity becomes visible and looks at itself without ties, without prejudice or hypocrisy.
Tulio Guterman - Director, March 2023