coletivA ocupação are a company of students from different districts of São Paulo, Brazil. They create projects that sit between art, activism and education. In February 2020, they brought their production When It Breaks It Burns, an immersive protest piece about the 2015 high school occupations in Brazil, to Battersea Arts Centre as part of our Going Global season.
“Sharing a creative response is important just to potentialize and get our narrative of this struggle out there, searching for and creating connections with other black people using a hashtag. Making this short film, which is loaded with words and images of revolt, it is a bitter pill that the movement needs to ignite it’s own territories. Black Lives Matter, and we want to echo that to all four corners of the world.”
Ícaro
“I see the importance of responding to Black Lives Matter as a historical register. 2020 has been a year of revolutionary ruptures, we need to tell this story from our perspective. The experience of youth, it’s voice and dreams are political. “
Lilith
“I believe that sharing and creating together is a way to create a new world. I feel that the world has many artists creating tools for this new world and sharing this video with the world, we can find art and create and control bridges!”
Veríssimo
FEITIÇO CONTRA O FIM DO MUNDO
SPELL AGAINST THE END OF THE WORLD
Watch the full video from coletivA ocupação:
CREATORS:
Abraão Kimberley
Ícaro Pio
Lara Júlia
Lilith Cristina
Verissimo Ph
EDITING & ASSEMBLY: Paula Serra
TEXT: Ícaro Pio, Lara Júlia e Lilith Cristina
MUSIC: Fogo e Fumaça – Abraão Kimberley
MIXING: Paula Serra
DANCE PERFORMANCE: Lilith Cristina e Verissimo Ph
TRANSLATION: Lowri Evans
SUBTITLES: Paula Serra
Supported by ColetivA Ocupação (BRAZIL) and Battersea Arts Centre (UK)
TRANSCRIPT:
“Racists, Fascists, shall not pass”
WE KEEP GOING BEYOND IMAGINARY LINES
TRACING CURVES NEVER THOUGHT OF
SPELL AGAINST THE END OF THE WORLD
I don’t have a vocation for the end of the world.
The pale world of exploitation will crumble.
WE WERE
WE ARE
AND WE WILL BE
A FLAME
THAT BURNS THE OLD WORLD
OUR REALITY IS HARD
Burn down the system!
BUT WE MAKE IT INTO CLAY
As we rebuild our empires.
As we sow the seeds our people will germinate again.
Not one body like mine will accept the end of the world.
WE SHAPE PATHS
WE RECLAIM OUR LIVES
I prophesise
That every black body that has fallen
Since forever,
Will make more revolts and occupy our minds
I prophesise
That every black body that goes up
Will cut off the head of the white dragon that rules this world.
“Miguel Otavio Santana de Silva”
WE ARE STILL A CROWD
NOW
MORE THAN EVER
LET’S COME TOGETHER
TAKE UP TIME
Enough death.
Black lives matter!
Each of our lives is worth a universe.
And there is no hate, fire or bullet
That destroys the infinite within us
Like the 520 years of living with the curse of colonialism
And today
I do this spell
This Mandingo
This Macumba
This magic.
For our lives.
I write a new book
On the earth
Recording the lyrics with my own hands
Recording on the floor
That powerful blessing
That black lives may be sovereignly eternal in this world
For me, the bomb didn’t go off now, it goes off every day.
Every month, year by year
Since the invasion
And may still be exploding now
Even though I’m not listening
COLONISATION
WILL NO LONGER DETERMINE
THE NARRATIVE OF OUR BODIES
It’s pure resistance
History
The history of these “sons of bitches of the black movement”
Who are lions ready to silence the hyena’s laughter
“Sons of bitches”
Sons of bitches who gave birth to you
And who took care of you
Mother Africa
After all, it is best to “drink milk”
And be hype on white fascist culture
Than understand you are not one of them.
And for those who are, here’s a warning that is coming straight from Mandume
“Why are the hyenas laughing? The king of the savannah is the lion”
THE REBELLION CREATES A CROWD
EXPERIENCE
ENCOUNTER
WORKSHOP
EXCHANGE OF WORLDS
LANGUAGE
AFFECTION
DANCE
SONG
CROSSING
FIRE
PASSION
LISTENING
TOUCHING
SHIVERS
“That’s it. It’s the beginning of a revolution. Do not try to stop us. Nothing will. The revolution has only begun – and it is black.”
@coletivaocupacao