Discover all the Occupations In its 13th edition, the Ocupação program pays tribute to Nelson Rodrigues and allows the author to tell in his own words – taken from his memoirs – the many stories, experiences and choices that made him one of the greatest writers in the Portuguese language. The two curators, Maria Lúcia Rodrigues, a journalist, university professor, doctor in Education and Nelson’s daughter, and Sonia Muller, her daughter (and the granddaughter of the author), gathered a wealth of material and wanted the author himself to describe how the society of his time was small-minded, petty and hypocritical, and how he chose to be free, even though he was aware that the price to be paid was intellectual solitude.
The curators also chose to seek out Nelson’s origins, to describe the city where he was born and where his family was from, this Rodrigues family of artists and intellectuals, living between Recife and Rio de Janeiro, always close-knit and ready to face the difficulties that arose. It was this family environment that allowed the writer to exercise his geniality, his refined sense of observation of the world, which he transformed, with a certain ease, into stories that were so close to the way life really is. The exhibition also includes a series of little seen materials, including photographs and texts, displayed in an environment designed so that the public can feel the presence of Nelson Rodrigues.
Itaú Cultural is very pleased to present the Nelson Rodrigues Ocupação to the people of São Paulo and Pernambuco. With minor changes, due to the change in location, the exhibition will open in Recife on August 23rd, date of centenary of the author’s birth, at Torre Malakoff, located in the old part of the city, facing the sea of his memories. And all of Brazil will have access to a diversified panorama of the work and life of Nelson Rodrigues through the program’s website, which includes family photos and recordings of his plays, as well as interviews with family members and personalities who shed light on aspects of his work.
Ocupação is one of Itaú Cultural’s initiatives to recover and preserve the Brazilian artistic memory, in addition to supporting the digitalization, organization and publishing of the collection of its honored subjects. Created in 2009, the program has included exhibitions on Nelson Leirner, Chico Science, Zé Celso, Regina Silveira, Abraham Palatnik, Rogério Sganzerla, Paulo Leminski, Haroldo de Campos, Flávio Império, Cildo Meireles, Ballet Stagium and Angeli.
Itaú Cultural