The insistance of being seen

This artwork was created inspired by the Timóteo Brothers in celebration of Black Consciouness Day in Brazil, observed on November 20th.

Pegge, born in São Paulo (1997), is a visual artist and works with realism keeping in mind the representation of black figures as the focus of his work, aiming to show (black) people and their emotions.

In this work (The insistence on being seen), Pegge is inspired by the history of the Timótheo Brothers, discussing the idea of ​​their “insistence on being seen”. The Timótheo brothers were the precursors of modernism in Brazil, considered today as pre-modernists. They also represented the first Afro-Brazilian artists in the post-abolition period to stand out nationally and internationally. Arthur Timótheo painted 'Retrato de um Negro', from 1906, where the artist humanized the figure of the black man, breaking with the stereotyped image of a “faceless” black man, an alienated worker in his function, an image extremely linked to the stigmas slavery.
The legacy of the Timótheo brothers represented a search for collective visibility that is still expressed today by artists such as Pegge himself.