Dismantling Archival Images

In Brazilian Geometry Arrives in Tropical Paradise (2018-2021), Rosana Paulino creates a striking palimpsest of Brazilian history by borrowing images from colonial and imperial archives. This series aligns with critical archival projects that confront the visual legacies of slavery and colonization. Through an analysis of her collages, I argue that, by establishing a paradoxical relationship between appropriated iconographies, Paulino opens new possibilities of reading archival images and prompts a mode of critical perception that looks beyond ideological mechanisms.