Entre a linha e o bordado: corpo e memória de José Leonilson

Abstract

This paper presents a study focusing on the period between 1991 and 1993, in which the arcist from Ceará José Leonilson Bezerra Dias (Fortaleza, 1957 São Paulo, 1993) was diagnosed with the AlDS virus until his death. Consultations with the artist's diaries, videos, interviews, and the catalog written by Lisette Lagnado, Leonilson: so many truths, were used as sources for the research. In addition, the history of embroidery was mapped, from prehistory, through different historical periods, to the Bauhaus school that brought with it the ideal of uniting art and crafis. In order to exemplify other contemporary artists who use embroidery as a support for works, we highlight the artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário who moved between reality and delirium, and began to produce his artistic work motivated by a divine message. And Rosana Paulino, whose work questions the standards of beauty, behavior, apprehension of individuals and their differences in the world. lt was tound that, in addition to the discovery of a positive diagnosis for the AlDS virus, ink allergies led Leonilson to work with embroidery only. Art, taught by the family, now has an autobiographical character. The concern with its existence in the world was closing more and more with the production on itselt. Thus, weaving memories and affections, Leonilson ambiguously occupied the empty space of the fabric with its history: the questions of its own body and its memory