Capoeira

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The painting’s title, Capoeira, refers to the Afro-Brazilian martial art that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, and music, developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil in the 16th century. Later, in the 19th century, capoeira’s popularity among bodyguards and hitmen of Brazilian warlords and criminals led to its being outlawed in 1888, shortly after the country’s abolition of slavery. Under the guise of law enforcement, police frequently arrested and tortured those caught practicing the martial art—a “legalized” means of inflicting violence upon the country’s Black citizens.

Freeman’s painting depicts two men in an embrace – both shirtless, with their gloved hands and fingers delicately touching. The work juxtaposes traditional dance, ornamentation, and intra-community violence, as one man points a gun at the other’s head. The depiction of a choreographed moment here may allude to orchestrated, systemic, institutional racism, in which policies and laws are enacted to intentionally oppress those of other races.