Ocupação Itaú Cultural

By Jullyanna Salles

All her life Paula heard she looked alike her grandmother Inezita Barroso. When she was young, she didn’t like being compared to a woman who was decades older, as if she was offended – “a teenager reaction”, she said just kidding. Years later, together with her young children, she watched a movie stared by the singer and had to explain them that this actress was not their mother. She finally understood she carried the legacy of her most famous family member.

There were other occasions when Paula had to deal with her grandmother resemblance. “In Paris [France], someone on the bus asked me if I was Brazilian. I answered yes. Then he asked: ‘From São Paulo, isn’t it? I said yes again, finding that really weird. He concluded: ‘You’re Inezita Barroso’s granddaughter, right?’ It was a former employee from TV Cultura”, she explained, laughing.

To shy to fit the stage, Paula followed also an artistic career, however away from the public. Plastic artist, she states that the resemblance is not only physical. “We’re very determined, you know? Even if someone says something is not allowed, if it’s something we are certain about, nobody will make us change our minds.”

Either because of her career in a masculine world, or the divorce in a time when it was a taboo or even a journey through out Brazil only with her brother-in-law and a friend to study the culture of the country, Inezita never fit within the expected model for a woman of that time. This personality also influenced her positioning towards her family.

Paula recalls how Inezita avoided the traditional roll of an quiet and peaceful old woman: “I remember once, when my children were about 4 or 5 years old, I was in São Paulo and invited her to dinner with me. She chose to eat barbecue. It was not very usual for an old lady to eat barbecue for dinner during the week, but my grandmother was different. However, what surprised me was the appointed time: ‘Come for me at around 10h30, 11h p.m’, she said. I had to change my plans, didn’t take my children, who were supposed to be asleep so late at night. And she concluded: ‘Yes, leave the children at home and we’ll have more time to chat’. This happened about 10 years ago when she was around 80. She wasn’t definitely a traditional grandma”.

Generally speaking, Paula and her children had a narrow contact with Inezita. They saw each other every week, but rather than a traditional Sunday lunch, they met at her granddaughter’s home at night for a pizza. Grandma brought her guitar and played to the children all night long. Paula stands out that, even after her grandmother’s death, her memories are present in their lives. “My children remember her very well, for they’re grown-ups when she passed away. One of them plays the electric guitar nowadays (she would regret it, I suppose) and always says the great-grandmother is his inspiration to do so.”

Coincidently, Ocupação Inezita Barroso opens on September, 27, Paula’s Birthday. “It’s my grandma’s influence directly from heaven”, said her laughing, when she acknowledged the date.