Art under attack: The uses and abuses of art by reactionary networks during the censorship of the Queermuseu exhibition

Abstract

The article addresses the episode of censorship of the exhibition Queermuseu – Cartografias da Diferença na Arte Brasileira in 2017. The focus is on the way in which reactionary networks approached the exhibition and, more specifically, the five artworks that were the most attacked. Under analysis are the works Cruzando Jesus Cristo com Deusa Schiva (1996), by Fernando Baril, the paintings Travesti da lambada e deusa das águas (2013) and Adriano Bafônica and Luiz França She-há (2013), by Bia Leite, Cena interior II (1994), by Adriana Varejão and Et verbum (2011), by Antonio Obá, which were extensively defamed through social media. The text considers the way in which visual culture shaped in recent decades by digital technologies has changed perceptions and considers the risks that this condition brings to guaranteeing freedom of expression and artistic production.