“Olhai Por Nois”/“Look at Us”: Performing Alternative Belonging through
the Mediatization of the Self in Sao Paulo
Victoria Harari Alves de Araujo Student Number: 12288608
Master's Thesis Comparative Cultural Analysis Supervision: Prof. dr. Esther Peeren
Introduction 1
Chapter One: (Non-)Belonging to Sao Paulo 1.1 Introduction 9
1.2 The Pateo do Collegio and Normative Belonging 9
1.3 Pixação and Alternative Belonging 17
1.4 Conclusion 29
Chapter Two: The “Olhai Por Nois”/“Look at Us” Action 2.1 Introduction 31
2.2 Picho or Pixo? 31
2.3 Olhai Por Nois 32
2.4 The Vandalized Street Dwellers 35
2.5 The Pateo do Collegio's Trajectory 38
2.6 The Cleaning Effort 39
2.7 The Investigation 40
2.8 Motivations 41
2.9 Not the First Time 43
2.10 Becoming Us 46
2.11 Conclusion 47
Chapter Three: The Mediatization of the Self on @massive_mia
3.1 Introduction 49
3.2 França's Territory 49
3.3 França as a Pixador 55
Introduction
The Pateo do Collegio (or Patio do Colégio) is an archaeological site marking the first construction of Sao Paulo; it is considered the starting point of Latin America's largest city. On April 10th, 2018, 464 years after its inauguration, people awoke to find that the Pateo do Collegio had the phrase "Olhai Por Nois" (Look For Us) blazoned across its façade in large red painted letters (figure 1).
Fig. 1. Pateo do Collegio: Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil. "Pichador do Pátio do Colégio também atacou Monumento às Bandeiras e Morumbi". ISTOÉ
(https://istoe.com.br/pichador-do-patio-do-colegio-tambem-atacou-monumento-as-bandeiras-e-morum bi/)
This thesis intends to explore the senses of belonging João Luis Prado Simões França, leader of the group responsible for the act, created through the presentation of this deed and of his artistic and activist persona in various online media. The focus will be on the multiple senses of belonging created through the mediation of the self
connection, to feeling "at home" and also to feeling secure (Yuval-Davis, 197).
Sao Paulo, characterised by a frenetic pace and pervasive violence, could be considered to be a place where developing a sense of belonging would be hindered by significant obstacles. The constant lack of security turns the city into what Marc Augé calls a “non-place”: an urban space with many people but with limited social actions (Tufte, 127). In Sao Paulo, the sensation of insecurity is so tangible that isolation through walls and enclosed condominiums has become an element of desire and social status (Altamirano, 2018:116). Paulistana society is organized into "bubbles" segmented mainly by class and ethnicity. In addition, "the city that does not stop" is also known for the social disparities and population segregation materialised by the populous slums (figure 2), which contain 11% of the city’s total population (more than two million people) according to the IBGE (The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). The constant marginalisation of individuals 1 who do not reflect the white European standard point to the difficulty Sao Paulo has in establishing an urban space and identity that are congruent with its entire population. França, a black man of humble origin, is one of the victims of this marginalisation.
1 To a further understanding of the causes and consequences of the marginalization phenomena in Sao Paulo see the "Mapa da Desigualdade 2019" research carried by the institution Rede Nova São Paulo (https://www.nossasaopaulo.org.br/tag/mapa-da-desigualdade/)
Fig. 2. Paraisópolis Slum: (Danny Lehman/Corbis). "As 10 maiores (e mais impressionantes) favelas do Brasil". Exame
(https://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/as-10-maiores-e-mais-impressionantes-favelas-do-brasil/)
After the phrase “Olhai Por Nois" appeared on the Pateo do Collegio, the leading newspapers—despite their distinct political positions—all immediately identified it as a criminal act, stressing that this type of behaviour is not accepted by the Paulistana society. According to Yuval-Davis, "Belonging tends to be naturalised and becomes articulated and politicised only when it is threatened in some way. The politics of belonging comprises specific political projects aimed at constructing belonging in particular ways to particular collectives that are, at the same time, themselves being constructed by these projects in very particular ways" (Yuval-Davis, 197). The reaction of the mainstream media outlets is consistent with this concept of a "politics of belonging" because it emerges as a response to an apparent threat. The newspapers’ objective seemed to be to neutralize the possible criticisms articulated by the act in order to keep the existing system in place. The Cambridge Dictionary states that a vandal is "a person who intentionally damages property belonging to other people.” By labeling the act as "vandalism," the media outlets suggested that
oneself or to some cause. The authorship of a pichação can be attributed to any citizen and it can be written with any tool for drawing, painting, writing or scribbling. Its aesthetic arrangement does not require a pattern in terms of the style of the letters, symbols or drawings, but only in the mode of occupancy of the spaces, and its support can be any surface (Altamirano, 2017:4).
It is not common for Brazilian mainstream media outlets to provide personal information about the perpetrators of this type of crime. However, in França’s case they eventually divulged not only official data, such as his occupation as a pastry confectioner and details about his family, but also his identity as a pichador or
pixador (working under the alias Mia - Massive Ilegal Arts) and his social media account: @massive_mia (Instagram). Significantly (and paradoxically), it was this disclosure that revealed that João França was not only the "vandal" and criminal "pichador" affirmed by the traditional media. On Instagram, he positions himself and is recognized as having a number of identities: he is the vandal, the confectioner, the father and the pichador, but also the artist, the art curator, the activist, and the pixador (with an “x” instead of “ch”).
Pixação refers to a visual manifestation executed with spray paint in public and private spaces characteristic of the city of Sao Paulo. If the Pateo do Collegio is the cradle of the city, the city is also the cradle of the pixação . Pixação is a form of closed communication with stylized letters used among a collective consisting of several groups that are usually divided by neighbourhoods and zones. Each group has a leader, "the head", and a name, called a "brand", which serves to distinguish
the group from others (Pereira, 2013:104). The pixadores - individuals who are part of the collectivity - are encouraged to perfectly replicate the signature, called pixo, and to spread the brand throughout the city. Having the highest number of signatures scattered through the urban territory and in places of high visibility provides prestige for the individual and their group, and organises the social structure of this collectivity. According to the anthropologist Alexandre Barbosa Pereira, for the youth of the periphery pixo becomes a means of gaining social visibility (figure 3) in a context in which they are born marginalized (Pereira, 2013:83).
Fig. 3. Pixação imposes the presence of the socially, spatially and politically marginalized individual. Treme-treme Building in Sao Paulo: Cleber Zerrenner/Nilton Fukuda. Beside Colors.
(http://besidecolors.com/treme-treme/)
This thesis will explore the different senses of belonging generated from the way França, after the "Olhai Por Nois" action, became involved in a public, offline and online, dialogue with several social groups revolving around the notions of
and Athena Athanasiou’s book Dispossession: The Performative in the Political, is used to highlight França’s relational trajectory through the social fabrics the different online media brought him into contact with after the “Olhai Por Nois” action. According to Butler and Athanasiou, dispossession concerns the process of adjustment that the individual goes through when relating to a collective and its respective norms (Athanasiou & Butler, 2). Dispossession is intrinsically connected with the sense of belonging, since to belong to a collective one must submit to its particularities. However, within a society/group, dispossessions are not equally divided: some people have to adjust more than others in order to belong (Athanasiou & Butler, 146). Dispossessions are, in a way, the cause and effect of organizing the social fabric by some characteristic such as gender and ethnicity. This logic of dispossessions does not only mean that social disparities emerge, but that they are maintained and dominated by naturalized customs in everyday life. In this thesis, I will show how the remediations of João França's senses of self expose and challenge the unequal distribution of dispossession within Paulistana society, which prevents him and those on whose behalf he speaks from belonging.
I will begin by exploring how the Paulistana narrative was built in parallel with historical changes to the city and the Pateo do Collegio. Sueli Fragoso distinguishes three spatial categories connected with issues of belonging and identity (Fragoso, 212). "Space" is about general meanings (e.g., geographic space, physical space or information space); "place" is the more situated perspective of identity characterization; and "territory" is produced through the development of an identity construction that results in feelings of ownership and belonging that are frequently
joined by a set of rules. Thus, the goal will be to identify the elements that convert "space" and "place" into "territories" stressing the ownership and identity of the dominant groups, their discourses and the sense of belonging expressed by them. It is important to note that territories of belonging are not restricted to the physical sphere; accordingly, I will also consider how digital territories are organized to establish João França's sense of belonging through his Instagram account.
"In any given historical moment of verbal-ideological life, each generation at each level has its own language" (Bakhtin, 290). This statement attests to Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of how languages are performative of and responsive to the situations experienced by those who speak them. Language is an essential parameter because it not only represents a collectivity but also serves as a connecting tool for its formation and development. Knowing how to speak the language of a particular generation or group, feeling represented by it and being heard within the social fabric are crucial factors that make an individual feel that they belong, whereas not knowing how to say things in the right way, not feeling represented by the language spoken and not being heard within the social fabric mark non-belonging. The “Olhai Por Nois” action and the reactions to it in the media and on França’s Instagram account will be analyzed using the theory of language developed by Bakhtin in his essay Discourse in the Novel.
As already mentioned, this thesis will be organized according to the different senses and politics of belonging articulated in different media around the "Olhai Por Nois" case. The first chapter, "(Non-)Belonging to Sao Paulo", poses as its main question: "who gets to belong to Sao Paulo?" Its objective is to provide a historical basis for França’s social positioning by others and himself. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first, "The Pateo do Collegio and Normative Belonging" focuses on the formation of the narrative that founded the Paulistana collective and on the role of the Jesuit construction of the Pateo do Collegio in this process. The second, "Pixação and Alternative Belonging", aims to understand the movement of pixação and its relationship with belonging in the social context of Sao Paulo, in which João França and the others involved in the “Olhai Por Nois” act found themselves
Chapter One:
(Non-)Belonging to Sao Paulo
1.1 Introduction
Sao Paulo is one of the most populated cities in the world. According to the 2010 IBGE census, it is the largest economic centre in Latin America and has more than 12 million inhabitants. Paulistanos experience a daily life marked by social inequalities and chronic violence, and their home is a place in which the sense of belonging is particularly difficult to nurture. The first chapter of this thesis aims to explore how Sao Paulo inspires a sense of (non-)belonging in João França, a black man living in a slum.
To answer its central question, "Who gets to belong to Sao Paulo?", this chapter is divided into two sections. The first, "The Pateo do Collegio and Normative Belonging", will address the question of belonging in the context of the early history of the Jesuit archaeological site from the 16th century onward. I will explore the language, discourse, and quality of dialogues instigated by the Pateo do Collegio, as well as the marking of territory and social ties in relation to it. The second section, “Pixação and Alternative Belonging", focuses on Sao Paulo in the period since the 1980s. I show how the birth of the pixação movement is directly related to the senses of belonging exalted by the place (the Pateo do Collegio) that marked the birth of Sao Paulo.
1.2 The Pateo do Collegio and Belonging
In 1548, Brazil's first governor, the military commander Tomé de Souza, arrived in the newest Portuguese colony with the document "Regiment of 17 December 1548" . 2
2For a better understanding of "Regiment of 17 December 1548" read the article "O império na ponta
da pena: cartas e regimentos dos governadores-gerais do Brasil* "
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307702646_O_imperio_na_ponta_da_pena_cartas_e_regi mentos_dos_governadores-gerais_do_Brasil/fulltext/57d8d6d108ae5f03b4986704/O-imperio-na-pont a-da-pena-cartas-e-regimentos-dos-governadores-gerais-do-Brasil.pdf)
Fig. 4. LEGRAND, C. Father António Vieira preaching to the Indigenous. Ca. de 1841. Litografia.
Acervo do Arquivo Ultramarino de Portugal, Lisboa.
The Jesuit priests soon realised that it would not be possible to convert the3 indigenous people to the Catholic faith and European customs without them being able to read and write Portuguese. Therefore, they created "educational" houses with teaching directed toward reading, writing and counting. The Pateo do Collegio, officially completed on 25 January 1554, was erected for this purpose. Indigenous forces were used to build the first cabin (90m2), which served simultaneously as a
3 The involvement of Jesuits with education in Brazil is described by the work "Trajetória da educação jesuítica no Brasil"
school, chapel, ward, dormitory, refectory and kitchen. Two years later, in 1556, Father Afonso Brás, the forerunner of Brazilian architecture, was responsible for the construction of a college and an attached church. Thus, the "Royal College of Sao Paulo of Piratininga" was born, together with the embryonic city of Sao Paulo (figure 5).
Fig. 5. First structure of Pateo do Collegio founded in the year 1554. Pateo do Collegio colection.
(https://www.pateodocollegio.com.br/)
The connection between the construction of the Pateo do Collegio and the colonial sense of belonging could not be more direct. The edifice was erected precisely to establish a sense of Portuguese ownership and belonging in the newly colonised space, transforming it into a territory (Fragoso, 212). The Pateo do Collegio, as well as other schools run by the order of the clerics, actively played this territorializing role, establishing and inserting the Portuguese system by teaching a new language, religion, customs and hierarchy in which the white European man established his sovereignty. The restrictive function of the Pateo do Collegio and its intention to
African slaves, a group known as the Bandeirantes - of European ancestry - spread 4 through the interior to capture indigenous people. This practice of capturing indigenous people and Africans for slave labour may be associated with Yuval-Davis's politics of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 197) in the sense that the Bandeirantes forcibly inserted such individuals into the places of disempowerment that colonial society believed they belonged in, in an effort to sustain the colonial system.
In 1759, with the expulsion of the Jesuits by the Portuguese Crown, the Pateo do Collegio remained the symbol of the city's power. It became state property and acted as the headquarters of the Paulista Government (figure 6) between 1765 and 1912, comprising a civic and cultural centre (Fortunato, 92). This was the period in which the Pateo do Collegio acted most strongly as the embodiment and enforcer of what Bakhtin would call the Portuguese authoritative discourse and as the executor of its policies of belonging, which excluded or marginalised everything non-European.
4For a better understanding of the role of the Bandeirante figure, check the first and second chapters
of the book A Escravização Indígena e o Bandeirante no Brasil Colonial: Conflitos, Apresamentos e Mitos
(http://files.ufgd.edu.br/arquivos/arquivos/78/EDITORA/catalogo/escravizacao_%20indigena_e_o_ban deirante_no_brasil_colonial.pdf)
Fig. 6. Pateo do Collegio in 1862 while still acting as headquarters of the Paulista Government. "Conheça Mais Sobre o Lugar que São Paulo Começou!". São Paulo City.
(https://spcity.com.br/conheca-lugar-sao-paulo-comecou/)
In the period of the First Republic (1889-1930), Sao Paulo underwent several urban reforms to differentiate itself from the period of the monarchy (Altamirano, 2018:66). However, since European cities inspired these reforms, it was difficult to establish a distinct Paulistana identity. The inclusion of elements that valued the Bandeirantes was the sole regional touch of these reforms. The Bandeirantes were used to suggest the exploratory and courageous behaviour of the colonial period (Altamirano, 2018:73). The spatial transformations also entailed the marginalization of the poorer classes and the appropriation of the city center by the elites, with the latter determining which parts of the city should be visible and which should be kept out of sight (Altamirano, 2018:80). The orders and laws that began to marginalize poorer individuals came from the Pateo do Collegio, which acted as the Government Palace. Sao Paulo's spatial transformation in this period was thus accompanied by a process of particular people "becoming dispossessed". However, despite the process of distancing poorer individuals from the city center, there was still also a relationship of belonging, as the bodies of the poor remained needed to furnish the labour force required by Paulistana society.
The Europeanizing impulse of urban intervention of the early twentieth century, defended by the bourgeoisie, was replaced by values linked to the North American capitalist culture. The completion of the Martinelli Building in 1929 marked the beginning of a process of verticalization of the metropolis, incorporating values associated with the notion of progress as well as modernisation. In opposition to the ostentatious central areas, the legislation of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century destined the distant regions of the city for the housing of the poorest. These areas presented a panorama of horizontally overcrowded lots, narrow streets, and slums that housed many families. In this period, the spatial structure of the city began to reflect income inequalities: vertical and central spaces were meant for the more affluent, and horizontal and peripheral spaces for the poor (Altamirano, 2018:79).
From the middle of the twentieth century, the attention of the government and the wealthier classes began to be directed to other parts of the city, as they sought more spacious and more affordable places to develop their modernist constructions than the area where the Collegio do Pateo stood. At the same time that the eyes of power were turning away from the Center, the more impoverished communities were increasingly unable to appropriate the central areas (Altamirano, 2018:92). Towards the end of the twentieth century, the municipal laws that controlled the expansion of the city underwent changes that would mainly affect the construction of buildings; these changes interfered with the configuration of the central region and further distanced the impoverished population to new peripheries (figure 7) (Altamirano, 2018:96).
Fig. 7. The map shows the urban space of São Paulo, in 2000, divided into eleven types of areas according to the socio-occupational profile. As a consequence of public policies described above, the classes with the lowest income (colours light yellow, yellow and red) were destined to the city margins while the richest in the central regions."Região Metropolitana de São Paulo". Observatório das Metrópoles.(http://www.observatoriodasmetropoles.ufrj.br/como_anda/como_anda_RM_saopaulo.pdf) The Pateo do Collegio came into focus again more than 50 years after it was partially demolished. The celebration of the Fourth Centenary of the city of Sao Paulo in 1954 was the event that culminated in the creation of a replica of the 16th-century project. The project caused considerable controversy at the time and5
was opposed by Condephaat (The Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist Heritage). The Condephaat argued that reconstruction would cover the archaeological remnants of the original building, undermining its historical value. Supporters of the project discussed the importance of the site as a historical monument of the city foundation, as well as of the Catholic religious manifestation. According to the official website of the Pateo do Collegio, in 1953 a petition with 4,000 signatures requested the re-establishment of the institution. On January 21, 1954, Governor Lucas Garcez enacted law No. 2658, transferring to the Society of Jesus the full domain of the land for the reconstruction of the College and the Church in order to "perpetuate the most important heritage of the people of Sao Paulo". In 1975, the Condephaat requested the designation of the site as an archaeological heritage due to the presence of two original elements of its 5The Pateo do Collegio recognition process was described in Ivan Fortunato's article "The replica at
the Pateo do Collegio: simulacrum or memoir? ". The official information of the space as heritage can be found on the I Patrimônio website
(http://www.ipatrimonio.org/?p=18151#!/map=38329&loc=-23.538809156294388,-406.637563705444 34,13).
Fig. 8. Reconstruction in the late 70's."Pátio do Colégio". Estadão/Acervo.
(https://acervo.estadao.com.br/noticias/lugares,patio-do-colegio,8206,0.htm)
During the period when the replica was being constructed, the city of Sao Paulo also faced a dramatic increase in social inequality. In the 1980s and 1990s, a transformation occurred in living standards, especially for the upper and lower classes. Poverty growth, combined with the appreciation of land values on the outskirts of the city, which rendered self-construction less accessible, significantly increased the number of slums. On the other hand, wealthy residents left the capital's central regions to inhabit new areas of the city, adopting closed condominiums as a new widespread form of housing (Altamirano, 2018:108). A scenario ensued in which rich and poor residents lived closer together, but were kept apart by physical barriers and systems of identification and control. As a result, public space in Sao Paulo are increasingly conceived as a mere support of
motorized circulation and emptied of social presence and meaning. Fences and walls have to be sophisticated, not only to protect against crime but also to express the social status of the residents (Altamirano, 2018:142).
Nowadays, the Pateo do Collegio is seen as a historical-cultural complex whose objective, according to its official website, is "the preservation of the historical memory about the origins of the city of Sao Paulo". The Pateo do Collegio promotes several cultural events, many of them free, most in line with the religious mission of the Society of Jesus. Thus, it can be said that it returned to performing part of its initial mission in the education of individuals who are part of Paulistana society. However, at night, the Pateo do Collegio’s façade also becomes the shelter for many homeless people, revealing the social inequalities that are the result of its construction (Fortunato, 118).
1.3 Pixação and Belonging
In the late 1980s, after the resumption of democracy with the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution, youths confined to the peripheries of Sao Paulo began to form groups, adopt codenames, define a calligraphic style, establish meeting points, and unite to carry out a social practice: the occupation of the city through indecipherable marks (Pereira, 2010:146). This constituted the pixação movement in Sao Paulo known as straight tag (figure 9).
Fig. 9. Building with the typical straight tag or pixação of São Paulo. Facebook Ruas de SP. "Nem contra, nem a favor: a pichação como arte manipulada pelos discursos da mídia televisiva e virtual". Ciências da Linguagem Jorkiwi. (http://www.usp.br/cje/jorwiki/exibir.php?id_texto=391)
Throughout the almost four decades of its trajectory, those belonging to the movement established an organized collectivity with a system of rules and a hierarchy (Pereira, 2012:60). The fact that the pixadores call themselves a family shows how strong the emotional tie is, which is something that Yuval-Davis thinks is essential for the development of a sense of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 197). The collectivity is made up of several groups and subgroups, which are usually organized according to zones and neighborhoods. Each group has a leader, called the "head", who is responsible for creating the "signature of the family" or the pixo itself. The pixo is used to distinguish the group, and its members are instigated to propagate it with perfection across the city. Having the most significant number of pixos in places of high visibility gives prestige to the family and the pixador (Altamirano, 2018:176).
In the universe of pixação, there is no "being a pixador", but rather a "becoming a pixador" (Butler & Athanasiou, 1) because the collectivity of pixação is not open to all. Usually, each group has a classificatory process to evaluate a candidate member and, once such a member has been accepted, certain rules need to be followed. "It must be clarified that entering the brand implies being willing to comply with several precepts, such as raising the recognition among the pixadores, spreading its mark for as many places as possible, protecting colleagues in cases of conflict and showing reverence for the elders" (Pereira, 2013:82). Pixação thus establishes a new system of norms and, within this system, new dispossessions are suffered by the person who wants to become part of the collectivity.
Contrary to the preconceived view of the majority of the Sao Paulo population that pixação consists of "a whole lot of scribbles", the designs rely on a creative process through which subjects express their alterities. However, each typography needs to be subjected to the particular aesthetic criteria of the straight universe tag. In this way, any subject is recognized for an individual achievement that is nevertheless articulated through a collective alterity (Altamirano, 2018:162). The process of elaboration of the typographic style, the process of its identity construction, becomes fundamental for a pixador’s initiation in the movement. The complexity of the aesthetic arrangement and the fidelity in its reproduction are aspects that add value to the image of the individual (or group of individuals) before the community of pixadores (Pereira, 2010:148).
Fig. 10. Scheme of analysis of a pixação from Sao Paulo (Altamirano, 2018:247).
The figure above (figure 10) identifies the elements that make up a pixação. In the centre is the name of the group, the pixo. At the left end is the symbol of the brand to which these pixos belong. A brand is a "big group". The small letters written next to the pixo are the initials of the real names of the pixadores who participated in the action. The numbers at the centre provide the two last digits of the year in which the pixo was made. Also at the centre, the arrow reflects that the action was practised in partnership, with the participation of two or more individuals or different groups. Finally, on the far right is the zone of the city where the pixo originates —that is, the place where the authors of the inscription were born and/or live. The visual organization of the pixadores (as well as the information displayed) does not follow a fixed pattern, but this example is a "basic formula".
The search for a biographical representation consolidates what Bakhtin calls the process of "social stratification" (Bakhtin, 289) in which different languages e merge and are combined to establish new forms of discourse. In the case of the pixação language, the process took place between the Portuguese language and typography influenced by heavy metal, hardcore and rock album covers. The crypto effect was created by using a code understood only among the pixadores, and the stylization given to the letters only made sense to those who were adept at the practice of pixação. In this way, the practice is constructed from various components and voices, yet its function of expressing authorship, signature, and a specific reality also
makes it an "authoritative discourse" (Bakhtin, 342) that can be explained by referring to a single perspective.
If the pixo acts as an "authoritative discourse" within the pixação collectivity, I propose that, when applied to walls, as representations of social divisions in Paulistana society, it acquires the character of what Bakhtin calls "double voice discourse": "It serves two speakers at the same time and expresses simultaneously two different intentions: the direct intention of the character who is speaking, and the refracted intention of the author. In such discourse there are two voices, two meanings and two expressions. And all the while these two voices are dialogically interrelated; they know about each other (just as the two exchanges in a dialogue know of each other and are structured in this mutual knowledge of each other)” (Bakhtin, 324). The pixo, representative of the reality of the pixador, enters into dialogue with the speech expressed by those in power in Sao Paulo. The pixo serves to mediate the existence of the pixador, whose social context does not do the same. It gives the pixador community a voice to make itself present and heard. Significantly, for Bakhtin, "double-voiced discourse" (Bakhtin, 325) has a controversial and contesting character. Such a character is also fundamental to a pixação.
The article "Novos Fluxos na Procura de Oportunidades: Trajetórias de Jovens nas Marginalidades da Cidades" by Fernanda Zanelli states that although all the peripheries of Sao Paulo have different characteristics, one aspect is reiterated: the identity conflict that is installed when young people go to other places in the city to access opportunities outside their neighborhood. In the face of this need for daily displacement, for building relationships and affective experiences, the feeling of belonging often ends up being held in check (Altamirano, 2018:141). The search for ascension and social visibility by the members and groups that together form the collectivity of pixação in Sao Paulo consolidates a quest for a new demarcation of the metropolis. The unauthorized appropriation of space violates the notion of ownership that has historically been established by public power over the course of the formation of the city (Altamirano, 2018:181). The demarcation of São Paulo
Fig. 11. Pixação performed on one of the main bridges of the metropolis. "Ponte Estaiadinha, na
Marginal Tietê, surge pichada neste sábado em SP". G1.
(http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/2016/06/ponte-estaiadinha-na-marginal-tiete-surge-pichada-ne ste-sabado-em-sp.html)
The pixadores are continually challenging the limits and searching for strategic locations that provide more status and acceptance from their peers. In this way, some categories have emerged (Altamirano, 2018:167): the simplest, used by beginners, is made with the pixador’s feet on the ground. A more complex method is the "human ladder", where a maximum of four people collaborate to reach higher points (figure 12). In the "peak" modality, pixadores climb to the top of buildings by
using lightning rod cables or internal stairs. The "climbing" or "window" method is dangerous and can be fatal for the pixadores. The challenge is to climb buildings by using the window openings in the facades at dawn, as high up as possible. This method is the most highly respected by the pixo community (figure 13).
Fig. 12. A pixação performed with the "human ladder" method. Latino Americano de Fotografia. Abduzeado. (https://abduzeedo.com/brief-introduction-graffiti-typography)
Fig. 13. A group of pixadores performing their pixos through the "climb" or "window" mode. "Na Corda Bamba Mano". Revista Piauí. (https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/materia/na-corda-bamba-mano/)
In this way, Sao Paulo became an upright canvas for the actions of the pixadores, who follow the vertical directives of the city and its architecture to carry out their interventions (figure 14). Through these interventions, buildings associated with the notion of progress and restricted to the elites in the 1920s are made part of the territory of the pixadores. To the chagrin of the elites, who sought to define the city’s modernity with neo-classical buildings and skyscrapers, today the pixo has become one of the city's defining features.
Fig. 14. The Wilton Paes de Almeida Building in the center of Sao Paulo exemplifies how the action of the pixadores accompanies the architecture of buildings."Ensaio Exclusivo: Clicamos os Pixos Mais Altos de São Paulo" Vírgula.
(http://www.virgula.com.br/comportamento/ensaio-exclusivo-clicamos-os-pixos-mais-altos-de-sao-pau lo/)
The modalities briefly described above reflect the risks created by this practice of spatial contention, such as that of being injured or even killed, and also the aesthetic risk of failing to mark the pixo or doing so in the right way. However, such risk is not only part of the pixadores’ lives because they practice pixação, but is always already present for them because of the precarious circumstances of poor communities in Sao Paulo. "There is no way to be constituted as a subject under one of those regimes (negligence, incarceration, enforced isolation), so the only resistance is through a practice of de-instituting the subject itself. Dispossessing oneself as a life becomes the way to dispossess the coercive and privative force of that form of power” (Butler & Athanasiou, 146). Members of the pixação run such a risk of death in their daily lives that the risky process of becoming a pixador encompasses the practice of "de-instituting the subject itself" as a way of contesting the power of the oppressive system. In pixação, it becomes clear how the method of "de-instituting
alliances, resolving conflicts and developing new projects. During the meetings, the pixadores perform the exchange of signatures in the form of what are called "leaflets" (figure 15). These leaflets show on paper the autograph that is to be achieved on the wall. By collecting the leaflets, the groups compose files containing their history and their characters. In some collections, there were also photographs, clippings of journalistic material on pixação and invitations to parties. Without this practice, it would be very likely that much of the pixo's story would have been lost. Before social media, the "leaflets" were the central record chosen to preserve the memory of the practice and the collectivity (Pereira, 2013:87).
Fig. 15. Photo of a "leaflet" with pixos. "Por um outro olhar: política, pichação, Michel Foucault e a
filosofia cínica". Xadrez Verbal.
(https://xadrezverbal.com/2014/09/04/por-um-outro-olhar-politica-pichacao-michel-foucault-e-a-filosofi a-cinica/)
The movement of the pixação reinvented itself as the city transformed. Given the visibility acquired by the collective, some pixadores understood that their practice could be used as a means of communication with the public. Therefore, they began to add legible words to encourage public solidarity with critical causes or to comment on current issues (Altamirano, 2018:224). Thus, the group "Tombs", pioneers of the "pixo protest", was portrayed in 2006 by the newspaper Diário de São Paulo as "Punishers of the Ink". In the article, phrases such as "all members of the group have a fixed job" and they are "just like everyone else" assign a sense of belonging to the pixadores. In 2013, during the June Days —a series of protests against the Brazilian Government that spread to several other cities in Brazil from Sao Paulo —a large group of pixadores created the Written Pixo Manifesto movement, which sought to use the tactics of the pixação to protest against situations of political oppression. The aim of the group was to enable anyone adept at the practice of pixação and in favour of the causes to demonstrate (Altamirano, 2018:237). These two initiatives increased the range of the pixação narrative by using the Portuguese language. Through a
Fig. 16."Doria Pxo is art". Example of the tendency to make pixos in Portuguese as a form of protest
using the aesthetics and methodology of pixação. "Pixadores dão mais uma resposta ao prefeito João Doria". Revista Forum.
(https://revistaforum.com.br/noticias/com-guerra-declarada-pixadores-dao-mais-uma-resposta-ao-pref eito-joao-doria/)
The merging of pixação languages with the official language of the Brazilian nation makes the manifestations of the pixo genre coherent with the concept of the "image of language" (Bakhtin, 358). According to Bakhtin’s essay “Discourse in the Novel”, in an "image of language", two distinct styles can be recognized within the limits of a single utterance. This leads to the illumination of one language by the other, which is precisely what happens when you merge Portuguese into pixação to make it (partially) readable by the Paulistana collectivity.
1.4 Conclusion
For more than four centuries, the Pateo do Collegio was the place where a politics of belonging was constructed and affirmed for the city’s population, the Paulistana collectivity. Until its demolition, the institution of Jesuit origin directly determined who could belong to the city and how. In other words, it determined what dispossessions were necessary for whom in order to belong. During the colonial period, it ruled that indigenous and African peoples should lose the right to practice their respective languages and customs, as well as sovereignty over their bodies in order to act (and belong in the city) primarily as work-oriented objects. Over the centuries, individuals who did not fit the European and North American ideal were marginalized, not only socially and politically, but also spatially. The city grew and in its margins emerged slums and communities formed by the poorer classes that could not find housing in the central regions. Thus, the implementation of a particular colonial-capitalist politics of belonging and its consequent dispossessions caused different parts of the population of Sao Paulo to experience various kinds of realities, resulting in a city marked by profound social inequality.
João França is a representative of the many individuals who tend to be recognized only as undesirable, interchangeable objects by the collectivity of contemporary Sao Paulo. Unlike native people and African slaves, these individuals did not go through the process of "becoming dispossessed" as they were born into a framework of belonging (and non-belonging) that had been maintained for centuries. Social differences between elites and marginalized groups, and the gulf that separates França from the European ideal, are firmly rooted in the Paulistana narrative and are part of its culture.
Pixação is a reaction to the feeling of belonging to the city only as a disposable object experienced by young people like João França: slum occupants, poor people and black people (Pereira, 2013:83). It emerged at the end of the twentieth century as a movement aiming for an alternative politics of belonging that comes from the marginalized and not from the Pateo do Collegio. The typical individual who is part of
end, to belong as a subject in the pixação collective, it is necessary to not be seen to belong as a subject in the community of Sao Paulo, but still to be willing to lay a radical claim to belonging there that is not individual but collective. It is such a collective claim that is made in the “Olhai Por Nois” action to which the next chapter describes the media’s dismissive response.
Chapter Two:
The “Olhai Por Nois”/“Look at Us” Action
2.1 Introduction
The main focus of this chapter is to explore the impact digital media outlets, in publicizing the "Olhai Por Nois" case, had on João França's sense of belonging. The ease of access to information was the first reason that made research in the digital realm the best choice for this study. Intermediality is the second reason because it acquires great importance for understanding the case, João França and his sense of belonging. The articles that reported on the episode inserted other media into their reports (photos, videos and links to other sites ) that enabled the collection of more information about the events than that reported in the text. The material collected for the analysis in this chapter was acquired via a Google search conducted in March 2019; 32 articles on the “Olhai Por Nois” case were collected. The case was featured in leading Brazilian newspapers such as O Globo, Folha de Sao Paulo and the O
Estado de São Paulo. Small and medium-sized blogs and posts on social media
were disregarded in order to focus on mainstream media outlets that enter into a dialogue with the collective of Sao Paulo as a whole.
2.2 Picho or Pixo?
Pichação is a visual manifestation that is not connected to a specific movement, can be performed by any individual and can generally be understood by the general public. Pixação, on the other hand, refers to a particular collectivity within Sao Paulo. As discussed in the previous chapter, it is a form that turns space into a territory. To differentiate a pixo from a picho, it is necessary to know whether the author is bound to the collective of the pixação and whether the action is or is not a form of signature space marking. However, all the mainstream media outlets, whether aligned with left or right political positions, reported on the “Olhai Por Nois” case as a case of vandalism against a public heritage site and as a pichação. An article in Painel
of the act needs to be identified and neutralized because his intention is to cause harm to the group, to Paulistana society. Pixação can also be used to label a criminal act, but it does not describe vandalism. It is a manifestation that represents a collective, and a pixo is the social extension of an individual. It is therefore not an isolated action, but rather a specific form of the social articulation of a collectivity.
Paulistana society and media outlets, during the forty years of pixação's existence, have come to realize that the correct way to name the movement is through the use of the “x”, yet persist in referring to “picha ção”. The fact that newspapers refuse to recognize a spelling that goes against the grammatical norms of the national language (Bakhtin, 270) is a strategy to deny the challenge to processes of marginalization that pixação mounts: the media want to keep marginalized individuals reduced to objects so that they do not gain the empathy of the population . The "canonization" (Bakhtin, 425) of spelling is further proof that linguistic control is directly related to the consolidation of the power systems that have been in place since the arrival of the Jesuits.
2.3 Olhai Por Nois
"Olhai Por Nois " was written on the Pateo do Collegio in large red letters (figure 17) . Despite its size, the overwhelming majority of the mainstream media outlets did not make any analysis of the meaning of the phrase, which was clearly a request for attention.
Fig. 17. Facade of the Collegio Pateo on the day of the action. "Pateo do Collegio é pichado na madrugada desta terça-feira" O Destak Sao Paulo.
(https://www.destakjornal.com.br/cidades/sao-paulo/detalhe/pateo-do-collegio-amanhece-pichado)
A Jovem Pan News article was one of the only ones to interact with the phrase a little. It included a video in which a reporter says that "those responsible for the criminal action wrote the phrase 'Olhai por nois' with a spelling mistake". Both the written article and the video only point to the "error" and do not discuss the message of the phrase or whether the mistake was deliberate or not. According to Portuguese-Brazilian grammar, the correct phrase would be "Olhai Por Nós" and not "Olhai Por Nois". The error is found in the personal pronoun of the first person plural, which, according to the norms, should be "nós". The "nois" is grammatically incorrect, but is the colloquially spoken form across Brazil, not only in Sao Paulo.
Brazilian Portuguese today results from the extensive miscegenation of several6 languages over the centuries. Even though it was used on occasions as a monologic 6 For a broader comprehension of the trajectory of the Portuguese language, consult Edwin B.
Williams' book From Latin to Portuguese: Historical Phonology and Morphology of the Portuguese Language.
ungrammatical nature of the phrase in order to delegitimize the intervention and turn polyphony into monologism, thus consolidating Brazilian Portuguese as an authoritative, single-voiced language.
Again, the Painél Acadêmico article by Neves gives a more critical analysis of what happened: "The building is associated with a Christian, Catholic and Jesuit memory. The most significant symbol said the phrase written in monumental letters of this manifestation, and it is present in its main prayer – ‘Jesus Look at us We who? Who perceives the symbolism of this pixação? It is not just vandalism; It is a manifesto, a cry to look at us. Who is supposed to look, God? The Church? Look at who? The marginalized people? The pixadores?’"
Father Carlos Cotieri, who had been Director of the Pateo of the Collegio for 12 years, said in a testimony to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper: "It smears the birthplace of Sao Paulo, injures the population, and at the same time, uses absurdly a religious phrase to only attack one of the most beloved spaces of Sao Paulo." The article does not examine the religious connection to which Cotieri specifically refers, but the prayer of the Lord Good Jesus – considered a daily prayer – is a suitable option: "Lord Good Jesus, my divine friend, my friend of all, look for us and give us our daily bread, help those who have at work and on the roof..." (www.pocketterco.com.br). It should be noted here that "social aid", according to the official website of the Pateo do Collegio, is the primary purpose of the Society of Jesus.
The grammatical error in “Olhai Por Nois” represents a performance of the Brazilian Portuguese language itself, which is, in turn, a performance of "social stratification". According to Bakhtin, "social stratification" is a process whereby languages continually engage in a constant revisiting of and searching for forms and meanings more consistent with the realities of the subjects whose worldviews they represent (Bakhtin, 289). The formal author of a text will usually try to coordinate and limit this process. We can thus say that the mainstream media outlets of Sao Paulo represent this "formal author" who seeks to maintain the hegemony of authoritative discourse (Bakhtin, 342), which not only repudiates grammatical errors but marginalizes the individuals who seek to represent themselves through such non-standard language. "Nois", even though it is part of the "social language" (Bakhtin, 430), the way most people speak in Sao Paulo, is dismissed by the media outlets as an illegitimate utterance that underlines the lack of civility of the “vandals” they hold responsible for the disfiguration of the Pateo do Collegio.
2.4 The Vandalized Street Dwellers
Just as the possible meanings of the phrase "Olhai Por Nois" were not the main focus of the journalistic reports, the street dwellers who were present at the scene when the action occurred were also secondary concerns. When referred to, the prevailing message was that they were also victims of the vandalism of those responsible for the manifestation, rather than part of the “Nois” to whom public attention was being drawn:
"Street dwellers, who crowd Pateo's square every night to sleep, were awakened with paint on their faces," the director of the institution said. “They threw paint on many of them who were asleep."- Jornal Folha de Sao Paulo
The newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo includes in its article twenty seconds of video captured by the security cameras of the Pateo do Collegio. ‘"They wet street residents who slept on the spot, and it looked like they were using a fire extinguisher”, states Sé's mayor, Eduardo Odloak’. From the footage provided, the
of the news media’s attempt to label the act as vandalism and those responsible as vandals.
Fig. 18. Scene from the security footage of the Pateo do Collegio. "Pátio do Colégio amanhece Pichado" .O Estado de São Paulo.
(https://sao-paulo.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,fachada-do-patio-do-colegio-amanhece-pichada,7000 2262182)
There are about 25,000 street dwellers in Sao Paulo (figure 19), according to Metro
Journal. Like the red paint that was taken to “disfigure” the facade of the institution, such people are seen as an unwanted presence in the city. Nevertheless, unlike those who have been pushed to the edges of the city over the centuries, out of sight, these people remain present and visible in the very center. The number of homeless
and the growing social chasm between them and the rest of the population, as well as the lack of egalitarian dialogue, causes them to be subjected to a process of objectification: they cease to be seen as human beings and come to be considered as unwanted objects, as dirt soiling the image of the city.
Fig. 19. Street dwellers sleeping in front of the Pateo do Collegio. "Unidades do Minha Casa, Minha
Vida para moradores de rua de SP não saem do papel". Uol Notícias.
(https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/agencia-estado/2016/06/22/unidades-do-minha-casa-minh a-vida-para-moradores-de-rua-de-sp-nao-saem-do-papel.htm)
By suggesting that the action was also an act of violence against the homeless, the mainstream media outlets turned the homeless from objects into subjects to be cared about. However, this can be considered part of the strategy to make the “Olhai Por Nois” action appear in a negative light, since an act against a subject (even one normally dehumanized) is considered more severe than one against an object. The subjectification of the homeless in the media was thus momentary and strategic. Significantly, the situation of the homeless was not mentioned again as the case unfolded; instead, the response to it focused on restoring the Pateo do Collegio
information was strategically omitted or only referenced in passing by the articles. One of the most notable omissions was that of the reason behind the construction of the Pateo do Collegio. As noted in Chapter 1, the building was erected in 1554 at the command of the Portuguese Crown for catechizing purposes; that is, as an instrument of colonization and domination of the indigenous peoples. Except for the article by Neves, none of the media reports made reference to the atrocities colonization and catechization generated, such as mass genocide and the disappearance of whole cultures. Rather, in the media outlets that reported on the "Olhai Por Nois" case, catechization was placed in a positive light.
The impression given by the articles, moreover, is that the present construction dates back to the sixteenth century and is not a replica erected in the 1970s (figure 20). Besides omitting the troubled trajectory of the Jesuit institution, its occupation by the Government and its demolition, the newspapers also chose to withhold information from the reader on the complicated process by which the Pateo do Collegio came to be recognized as a historical monument. To recognize that the Pateo do Collegio is a replica would weaken the Christian and European ideology underpinning Paulistana society and its politics of belonging, by revealing the inconsistent grip this ideology had on Sao Paulo. Presenting the Pateo do Collegio as a stable symbol of this ideology going back to the 16 thcentury, on the other hand,
Fig. 20.The Pateo do Collegio, in 1976, in the last phase of construction. "Olhai Por Nois". Blog quando a cidade era mais gentil.(https://quandoacidade.wordpress.com/).
2.6 The Cleaning Effort
If, on the one hand, the street dwellers and the phrase "Olhai Por Nois" did not have much prominence in the mediation promoted by the newspapers, the cleaning effort was much praised:
"'If they need help with the painting, we have a surplus of white paint and we can dispose of that material. We are going to help the church because it is a recognised asset of great importance to the city', says the regional mayor". -
O Estado de São Paulo
"The restoration of the facade of the Pateo do Collegio, in the center of the capital of Sao Paulo, will begin next week in voluntary and collective action. In all, one hundred volunteers will be part of the work, being ten in turn, with two shifts a
"Responsible for the Pateo do Collegio, the Society of Jesus organises for next week a 'joint action of solidarity to recover the facade of the property'. To an action carried out by a few, in a solitary way, in secret, we respond with unity, collaboration, solidarity and hope," said the director, Fr. Carlos Alberto Contieri, in a note.” - IstoÉ
The excerpts above, especially Father Cotieri's speech to IstoÉ — "To an action carried out by a few, in a solitary way, in secret, we respond with unity, collaboration, solidarity and hope" — show the attempt by the media outlets to present the restoration of the Pateo do Collegio as a collective action that is socially humanitarian in contrast to the act of vandalism committed by a few individuals. Even though the Pateo do Collegio is a private patrimony, the engagement of many people (about 100 individuals) in its cleaning is supposed to demonstrate that an emotional connection to the building exists throughout the Paulinista community. But does this group truly represent the collectivity of Sao Paulo as a whole? This question becomes relevant in relation to the speech of Father Cotieri, who "asks for calm among the population" and indicates that the Jesuits received a donation from an anonymous donor. Moreover, if we look at Cotieri’s response through the lens of Neves, would not the action of the pixadores also fit the priest's description of being one of unity, collaboration, solidarity and hope?
Investigations into who was responsible for the action took place, especially on social networks. An article in Agência Brasil ECB includes the testimony of the police deputy responsible for the case, Marcos Gallicasseb, in which he states that he was able to identify the perpetrators by employing "phrases" in online searches that directed him to them. Isabela Tellerman was the first suspect to be identified because of a post on her Facebook account in which she identifies herself as "Isabel Tells". Other posts by Tellerman led to the identification of João França.
"Multi-territoriality is characterized by the over-connection of territories and by the greater liquidity of spatial transits, simplifying the access (virtual and real) to different places that harbour flux space" (Fragoso, 213). The fact that the investigations into the "Olhai Por Nois" action focused on social media networks shows how physical and digital spheres are connected and exemplifies the concept of multi-territoriality explored by Manuel Castells, as discussed in Sueli Fragoso's work. While the resolution of the “Olhai Por Nois” case occurred in the digital realm, the consequences of this resolution also involved the physical realm.
The discovery of the offenders on Facebook challenges the argument of the newspapers, the police and Father Cotieri that this action was an individual act of pure vandalism. In fact, the act was shared and praised on a social network by Isabela, clearly seeking approval from her peers. Such references to collectivity make us begin to see the manifestation as a pixo and not as a picho. In making a post about the act, Tellerman stresses its collective authorship and social message. It is her trademark, and that of Mia, that has been stamped on the façade of the Pateo do Collegio.
2.8 Motivations
In a press conference on the case, Deputy Gallicasseb said that the accused, João França and Isabela Tellerman, claimed an ideological motivation related to the connection of the Pateo do Collegio with the catechization and genocide of indigenous peoples. Gallicasseb conveyed the testimony of the accused, who were
the Artsy platform for R$ 2,225 Reais or $568 (figure 21). At the time of writing, França had an Artsy account (figure 22). However, when closely inspecting the image provided by Gazeta, it becomes clear that it is not of the "Olhai Por Nois" action at all, but of an intervention at the Monument to the Flags also realized by França.
Fig. 21. Screenshot of the video accompanying the Gazeta newspaper story, in which the image refers to the Monument to the Flags and not the Pateo do Collegio. Jornal Gazeta Youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azaXTvvklfo).
Fig. 22. Print from the page of Massive Ilegal Arts. Artsy. (https://www.artsy.net/artist/mia-massive-ilegal-arts).
Although it is true that França markets products related to his acts, does this indeed make the actions lose all ideological and political value, as the Deputy implies? Can an action not have more than one motivation or meaning? It could be said that the way in which the mainstream online media affirm the mercantile motivation and disregard the ideological one that establishes a connection with the violence of Sao Paulo’s colonial past is aimed at presenting França and Tellerman as vandals seeking to make money from their vandalism rather than as activists seeking to make a political point.
2.9 Not the First Time
After being arrested, França and Tellerman confessed to participating in the action at the Pateo of the Collegio. The investigation also obtained recordings made by the participants themselves using cameras and cell phones. In addition to the "Olhai Por Nois" case, it was discovered by the police that França and Tellerman were also involved in other events at public monuments, such as the demonstration at the Monument to the Flags (figure 23) and the statue of Borba Gato (figure 24) in 2016, and at the Morumbi Stadium in 2017.
Fig. 23.The Monument to the Flags, a homage to the Bandeirantes, covered with ink. "Monumento às Bandeiras e estátua de Borba Gato amanhecem pichados". O Globo. (https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/monumento-as-bandeiras-estatua-de-borba-gato-amanhecem-pichad os-20206352)
Fig. 24. The monument named after the Bandeirante known as "Borba Gato" covered with paint.
"Borba Gato e o Monumento às Bandeiras não foram pixados" Vice Brasil. (https://www.vice.com/pt_br/article/pge4gv/monumentos-nao-foram-pixados-sp)
The newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo found two of Isabela’s posts, in which she claims to have participated in an action at the Pacaembu Stadium in 2017: "A year back there was us, another lively dawn next to my brother's life/father of action/partnership in MIA productions, messing around town, 'Chora Doria' on the walls of Pacaembu."
From this stage of the police investigation, the manifestation at the Pateo do Collegio begins to show more congruent signs of being a pixo and not a picho. To begin with, it becomes clear that it was not an isolated act but rather part of a series of interventions. When comparing the Pateo do Collegio case with the other two cited by the newspapers, it is also possible to identify a series of similarities that constitute a way of stressing authorship —a factor of extreme importance in the universe of pixação.
The three cases all occurred at public monuments with some relation to social injustices. The actions were also performed using unusual means, such as the fire extinguisher and eggs filled with paint. "Olhai Por Nois" was painted collectively by people who had worked together before, indicating that there was a social bond between them. Tellermen exemplifies the closeness of the relation by calling França "brother of life" and "the father of action". Finally, the disclosure of the acts on social media, by the posts of Isabela Tellerman and later by those of João França, highlights the collective character of the actions. Tellerman and França wanted to expose their achievements in search of social recognition from their peers. As noted in Chapter 1, the pursuit of recognition and status is an extremely characteristic behaviour in the pixação collectivity.
2.10 Becoming Us
Vandalism was the immediate diagnosis determined by the mainstream online newspapers, as illustrated throughout this chapter. However, with the passing of time and the progress of the investigation, additional information about the actors was revealed by the media outlets. It is not very common for the Brazilian media to expose information such as the social network posts of offenders, but in this case they did, perhaps because Tellerman is a young, middle-class woman with a college degree — an unusual type of vandal. Another aspect that may have prompted the newspapers to explore the lives of the offenders a little more than usual is França’s connection with the world of international art via Artsy.
"João Luis Prado Simões França, aged 33, usually divides his time between caring for his three children, between 1 and 8 years old, and working as a confectioner with his wife, with whom he has had a relationship for over 13 years. On a few nights, however, he turns into MIA, or Massive Illegal Arts, a codename he uses in his graffiti. " - IstoÉ
"Under the codename M. I. A., France has more than 11,100 followers on Instagram, where he publishes the “backstage” of his works and always poses with a mask of a wolf. Many of the posts are accompanied by the hashtags #chuvadetinta and #pesadelodosistema. He is known to use fire extinguishers in his actions, which last a few seconds. " IstoÉ
In these passages, the media outlets set the stage for their readers to penetrate the universes of França and Tellerman without their mediation, via their social networks. In this way, the strategy of positioning them as "other" and as “vandals” is undermined by the media outlets themselves, which enable (and almost encourage) their readers to access França’s and Tellerman’s self-presentations.
2.11 Conclusion
From the analysis of the 32 digital stories that reported on the "Olhai Por Nois" case, it can be concluded that the mainstream media outlets covered the event by performing the politics of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 197). The objective in deeming it an act of vandalism and commerce seems to have been to get their readers to condemn the act and thus to maintain the Paulistano authoritative system fostered by the construction and reconstruction of the Pateo do Collegio, in which processes of oppression and marginalization are not acknowledged.
The media outlets, with a reach that covers a considerable part of the Sao Paulo collectivity, have emerged out of and operate within this framework that idealizes the European supremacist colonizing system. Clearly, in a protectionist move not necessarily aimed at the Pateo do Collegio, but at the ideology that it represents, the media outlets extolled its importance and denied the political relevance of the action. By diagnosing the act as individual vandalism and as oriented towards making profit (by selling the images), any critical analysis of its social meaning becomes irrelevant. The media outlets make the action appear like that of an insect stinging an otherwise healthy body; the sting is annoying but it is caused by an action from outside (the insect) and therefore does not need to be analyzed as having something to say about the body itself.
João França, through the remediation of the "Olhai Por Nois" case in the online media outlets, gains visibility and ceases to be a mere object. However, instead of becoming a subject that is part of the Paulinista social body, he remains other to it, an annoying insect that needs to be caught. When presented through the “pichador”
