Sharing HERspective: Discovering Latino artists in the Sweet Briar art collection

Sweet Briar College’s art collection contains over 1,672 objects that “support the academic and cultural life of the College.” Established in the mid-1930s with the help of the Friends of Art, a newly formed group of alumnae, students, faculty, staff, friends, and neighbors of Sweet Briar College, the collection grows each year through their continued support. As an intern working for the Sweet Briar Galleries with an interest in Latino and Hispanic art, I was eager to see and explore which of these artists and artworks they included in the collection.

The artist that stood out to me the most was Ana Maria Pacheco, born in 1943. As a Brazilian-American student studying Art History, I had a biased interest in Pacheco after discovering that she was a Brazilian artist and sculptor. Pacheco was born in Goiâna, in the State of Goiâs, located in the west-central region of Brazil. In an essay included in the book Terra Ignota: The Art of Ana Maria Pacheco , author Kathleen Adler described this area: Goiás was for many years at the Brazilian frontier with Spanish Paraguay, at the edges of the region dominated by Portugal. Formed by adventurism and the quest for gold, it is now deep in the heartland of Brazil” (Adler, 7-8). Goiâs stands as a bridge between Mato Grosso, which is where many indigenous people continue to live, and Brasilia, the nation’s capital. Goiâna, in particular, is 200 kilometers away from Brasilia. Pacheco looked at the natural world around her and recognized the rawness that was held within it.

Sweet Briar gallery intern, Damarys Rodrigues presented her research to the campus community on December 12, 2023.

Pacheco’s education focused on “…a history of twentieth-century art from Picasso to Pollock, and perhaps above all, a history of modern European art which stressed the importance of abstraction and constructivism” (Adler, 7-8). As a female artist, Pacheco had to prove that she belonged and was serious about art. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sculpture and music at the University of Goiás and studied music at the Federal University of Goiás. She then moved to Rio de Janeiro for postgraduate work in music and education before returning to Goiás to teach. During her time teaching, she entered and won first place in the Goiás Biennale and represented Brazil at the São Paulo Biennale in 1970. When she accepted a British Council Scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Arts in 1973, she moved to London and has lived and worked there ever since. Pacheco received an appointment in 1996 as the fourth Associate Artist at the National Gallery of London, where she completed a residency in a basement studio of the art museum from 1997 to 2000. Her appointment was the first for an Associate Artist who was not European and who was a printmaker, sculptor, and painter.

To describe Pacheco’s art as just ‘Brazilian’ would be a disservice to truly understanding her art. Brazilian legends, Catholic mysticism, and folktales from around the world are all intertwined within her works as she explores the connection between fantasy and the supernatural. The Sweet Briar art collection includes six drypoint etchings of Pacheco’s Tales of Transformation series, made in 1998, based on Brazilian folk fables from her childhood.

• Parts 1-3 are based on a tale of forgiveness. In this story, a medicine man turns a male member of the indigenous community into a tapir, which is then killed and eaten. The women of the community, outraged by the man’s death, jump into the river and transform into fish. The men of the village lean longingly from their boats and wish for the women back. The women forgive the men and allow themselves to be caught as fish and then turn back into women.
• Parts 4-6 are based on a tale that warns about being obedient. In this series, a grandmother and her granddaughter are walking in the woods when they come across a jaguar. Seeing that the granddaughter is wearing body paint, the jaguar asks to be painted like she is. The grandmother, wanting to prevent them both from being eaten by the jaguar, offers to paint it, but on one condition: that she cook the jaguar first in order to paint him. Naïve in the ways of humans, the jaguar full-heartedly jumps into the pot and the hot water immediately kills him. The grandmother warns her daughter not to eat the jaguar meat, but, like a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar, the daughter eats the jaguar meat and turns into a half-human and jaguar hybrid.

Working with Pacheco’s stories and handling her work made me realize the value of Sweet Briar’s art collection. Pacheco’s work drew my attention, and within it I could explore the thin line between humanity versus nature, good versus evil, and vice versus virtue as she presented the idea of transformation and how quickly change can happen.

Since the 1990s, Sweet Briar has built a powerful collection of female artists. While the overall collection is wonderful, it includes a noticeably small number of Latino artists, just 26 among the 1,762 items. Besides Pacheco, the rest of the artists on my research list are primarily famous Spanish men, such as Francisco Jose de Goya (1746-1828), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Salvador Dali (1904-1989), and the less famous, Joaquin Vaquero Turcios (1933-2010), and Genaro Ibanez (1903-1983). Though, we do hold one other female Latina artist, Paula Rego. The hope is that for Latina students like me, this area of the collection will continue to grow and that studies like mine will draw attention to the need for more works by Latino and Hispanic female artists.

Damarys Rodrigues ’24 and Clare van Loenen, Director of the SBC galleries and museum, review the artwork of Ana Maria Pacheco in the SBC art collection.

Works Cited:

• Adler, Jane Wilson. Ana Maria Pacheco in the National Gallery . (National Gallery: London), 2014.

Art works by Ana Maria Pacheco in the Sweet Briar Art Collection:

• Pacheco, Ana Maria. Tales of Transformation 1 , 1997, ACG.1999.009.a, Purchase made possible by the Friends of Art.
• Pacheco, Ana Maria. Tales of Transformation 2 , 1997, ACG.1999.009.b, Purchase made possible by the Friends of Art.
• Pacheco, Ana Maria. Tales of Transformation 3 , 1997, ACG.1999.009.c, Purchase made possible by the Friends of Art.
• Pacheco, Ana Maria. Tales of Transformation 4 , 1997, ACG.1999.009.d, Purchase made possible by the Friends of Art.
• Pacheco, Ana Maria. Tales of Transformation 5 , 1997, ACG.1999.009.e, Purchase made possible by the Friends of Art.
• Pacheco, Ana Maria. Tales of Transformation 6 , 1997, ACG.1999.009.f, Purchase made possible by the Friends of Art.

Sharing HERspective is a new column that allows students to share reflections on their lives and activities while attending Sweet Briar College. We invite all SBC students to submit articles for consideration at communications@sbc.edu.