#elenão, curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli

#elenão*

This exhibition is about the loss of language
Rather, the title of this exhibition is about the loss of language
When language and meaning have become dissociated
When language is no longer language
When language has been reduced to an outlet for repressed anger, fear and prejudice
The symptom of a sick society
The opposite of culture
Because there is no culture without language
This is why I have opted for a non-title
A hashtag
Until language is made possible again

#elenão #nothim

*The hashtag #elenão emerged in recent months as a response to the rise of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil's 2018 presidential polls. The 'Trump of the Tropics' won 46 percent of the vote during the first round of elections on Sunday, falling just shy of winning outright. He will face the Worker's Party (PT) candidate Fernando Haddad — who took just 29 percent of the vote — in a runoff on October 28. The 63-year-old has made offensive statements on issues ranging from abortion, race, migration and homosexuality to gun laws, and has suggested that the country should return to the hardline law-and-order tactics of the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. In 2016, when members of Congress voted to impeach the then-president, Dilma Rousseff, Mr Bolsonaro dedicated his vote to late Colonel Alberto Brilhante Ustra, a highly controversial figure who was accused of torturing prisoners under Brazil's military rule. He has repeatedly mocked women as idiots and as tramps, as unworthy of rape, let alone equal pay. Bolsonaro has also made common cause with evangelical Christians, who support eliminating legal abortion and gay rights.