Darcy Penteado (1926 - December 3, 1987) was a Brazilian artist, artist, designer, engraver, set designer, costume designer, figure designer, literary author, theatrical author and militant pioneer of the Brazilian LGBT movements.Queer Places:
Centro Cultural Brasital, Av. Araçaí, 250 - Vila Aguiar, São Roque - SP, 18130-235, Brazil
Darcy Penteado (1926 - December 3, 1987) was a Brazilian artist, artist, designer, engraver, set designer, costume designer, figure designer, literary author, theatrical author and militant pioneer of the Brazilian LGBT movements.
Artist, set designer, costume designer, theatrical actor and designer who stood out for his feather-beaked traits, Darcy Penteado was born in the city of São Roque and is considered the first militant of LGBTQIA+ movements in Brazil. With a consolidated career between the 1950s and 1980s, the artist decided to face one of his greatest challenges during the dictatorship and, together with colleagues, founded the first newspaper for the LGBTQIA+ public, called Lampião da Esquina. The 37 editions featured reports and interviews that promoted the political debate, with the aim of bringing information that would help demarginalize the gay public. Among the interviewees are personalities such as singer Ney Matogrosso and stylist Clodovil Hernandes.
For the cultural and militant producer, Jaqueline Ferreira, Darcy's works brought, at the time, issues that are taboos in society to this day. "He was a complete and abused artist, always ahead of his time. He was a pioneer in collage, he was a very cultured person, he was sarcastic, he always had something to talk about, even in portraits," she said.
The only copies of Lampião da Esquina are in the Brazilian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transsexual Association (ABGLT) of the Dignidade Group, in Curitiba (PR). However, you can access the online edits through the site. Darcy did give his collection to the city of São Roque, where he was born, on the condition that they create a cultural institute to maintain it. The works was exhibited at the Brasital Cultural Center, a place that was chosen by the artist as one of his last visits in the municipality.
"São Roque is a traditional, conservative city, and Darcy is little recognized, he made available the collection, in a way, as an affront," Ferreira explained.
"Even today it is very common to link homosexuals to prostitution, to drugs. But not everyone is. We have excellent hairdressers, excellent architects and excellent artists," she said. For the Secretary of Culture, Cassiane de Souza, the collection was received as a gift, being appreciated by many other artists in the region. "Darcy is a gift to St. Roque. We are renovating the space here, precisely to be able to leave all these works exposed to other people, to schools. So that everyone knows darcy's story a little bit," she explained.
In addition to the works at Brasital, São Roque also hosted an exhibition that brought a different perspective to the tale of Alice in Wonderland from illustrations by Darcy made in the 1960s and used in the Brazilian commemorative edition of the book, released in 2005.
Darcy Penteado died at the age of 61 on December 3, 1987, a victim of AIDS. His years of career and struggle for the rights of LGBTQIA+ audiences have been marked in history and serve as inspiration for many to this day. "We just want the right to fight, the right to be free and the right to be able to love. I believe it still shocks all of us, but the most important thing is that we can have public policies that fight with us. The movement will always be united, but we need more people together with us," said artist Vinícius Tanzi.
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