Mapas elementares no. 1 [Elementary Maps No. 1] (1976)

Plot Summary

Much of Anna Bella Geiger’s work engages with geography. She begins the video “Mapas elementares no. 1” by drawing the outline of a world map on paper. In the background, Brazilian musician Chico Buarque’s well-known song “Meu caro amigo,” released the same year, accompanies her activity. Though it sounds cheerful, Buarque’s song is written as a letter to a friend in exile. It mixes references to everyday life (soccer, samba, music, rain, and sun) with statements such as, “What I really want to tell you is that things here are black,” an allusion to the dark circumstances surrounding the heightened violence and censorship under Brazil’s military regime. Buarque’s refrain prompts Geiger to begin blackening the outline of Brazil on her map. Geiger includes herself to demonstrate that the drawing of maps depends heavily on the mapmaker’s vision, or “the artist’s hand.” Her use of video to record the process further emphasizes that mapping is always contingent and in-progress.

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