Hunger for Resistance: Interview with Jonathas de Andrade

Jonathas de Andrade has developed an aesthetic practice that offers acute reconsideration of power relations as manifested in images and institutions. Based in Recife in the Northeast of Brazil, the artist draws upon the sociocultural and political conditions of his environment, developing artworks – typically installations using images, sculpture or video – that draw our attention to core themes including labour, representation and the gaze. His practice can be seen as a form of activism, incisive and critical, brimming with playfulness and poetry. Afterall editor Nav Haq engaged in conversation with de Andrade over the late summer and autumn of 2023 to discuss a range of topics, including the artist’s relationship to his native Recife, his engagements with the institution of the museum, the body in images and in metaphors, his mode of collaboration with society, Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and his recent overview exhibition at MAMAM (Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães) in Recife.