Letícia Parente

Letícia Parente was a pioneer of video in Brazil, and In is one of her earliest video works. It depicts the artist entering a closet, suspending herself from a hanger, and closing the door. Parente used video as a political tool to protest the military dictatorship in Brazil, and to comment on the mass torture committed by the government. Much of her work concerned domestic space and its association with conventional roles to which women were expected to conform. Several videos by Parente transform daily household tasks into forms of resistance.

In Preparação I (Preparation I) Letícia Parente prepares herself to go out. In front of a bathroom mirror, she places bandages over her mouth and eyes, draws eyes and a mouth over the bandages, fixes her hair, takes her bag and leaves the room. This masquerade becomes a political commentary about the female gaze, voice, modes of interaction, sociality and corporeality in Brazilian society during the 1970s.