Flicts, by Ziraldo, is exhibited on a wall in Portugal – 10/18/2023 – Era Outra Vez

It is in an open courtyard in front of the Usseira Aqueduct, which has framed the horizon with its stone arches since the 16th century, that dozens of buses turn off their engines every day. From each of them, dozens of eager tourists disembark, ready to discover, explore and above all photograph the medieval village of Óbidos, in Portugal.

Being about an hour from Lisbon and having a very well-preserved castle, the walls still standing and a labyrinth of little streets lost in time, the city has once and for all entered the country’s tourist route — which helps explain the incessant flow of Germans, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italians, Chinese, Poles, Brazilians and people from all over the world who quickly spread along the stone roads.

But since last week there has been a difference on this path between the parking lot and the historic area. There’s yet another reason to fire flashes and pose for selfies. To the left of those heading towards the village, on the wall painted in white and blue, right in front of the Óbidos Parish Museum, there is a feature that is unmistakable to any Brazilian. There’s Ziraldo. It is the art of the writer, illustrator, cartoonist, father of Menino Maluquinho and journalist from Minas Gerais who welcomes visitors.

In total, 40 panels are arranged side by side on the wall, which can be seen from cover to cover, from the first to the last page, in the exact order of the narrative, the entirety of “Flicts”. It is as if the classic of Brazilian children’s literature escaped the book, went against the constraints of the object and invaded the Portuguese landscape.

The exhibition is part of Folio, the Óbidos International Literary Festival, which began on the 12th and runs until Sunday, the 22nd. In addition to the event, which has the air of a Portuguese Flip, the exhibition is also organized by the Brazilian embassy, ​​the Instituto Guimarães Rosa and the Ziraldo Institute. The title, which in Brazil is published by Melhoramentos, has just been launched in Portugal by Tinta-da-China.

But, by spreading across the walls and ignoring the boundaries of the book, “Flicts” gains new readings and meanings. When it comes into contact with the streets, it stops being just literature and crosses the boundaries of plastic arts, urban intervention, political posters and direct communication.

An example is when Flicts, a despised and sad color, decides to travel the world and see new places. When visiting “the most beautiful countries”, Ziraldo chooses to illustrate this specific page with the Brazilian flag. Far from bookstores and libraries, the passage takes on other reverberations.

“And is Brazil the most beautiful country? Are they the only ones?”, ask two young Portuguese women as they pass in front of the panel. Not five minutes later, a group of Brazilians gather in front of the same poster, smile, agree with the sentence and take a selfie.

What they may not know is that, in 1969, when the work was released, this same page originally featured the flag of the United Kingdom. At that time, Brazil lived under the military dictatorship, a regime that, the previous year, had decreed AI-5, increased repression, further reduced freedoms and closed Congress.

“At that time, 1969, the flag didn’t belong to me. No one could love the Brazilian flag […]. We had to respect her. But those who wanted us to respect her confused respect with fear. And then, we were afraid of the Brazilian flag”, wrote Ziraldo decades later.

The national symbol only appeared in “Flicts” in editions published from the 1980s onwards. This is the painful historical and political context that is silently printed on the walls of Óbidos. Somehow, this background is also present in the passions of the Portuguese girls and in the reactions of the group of Brazilians.

The same occurs with the other panels in the exhibition, even if at different levels. Some visitors read the story and then follow the tour. Others don’t read anything, but take photos and post the images on social media. And there are still those who peek at the pages just out of the corner of their eye, hurriedly. But no one ignores the exhibition. It is impossible not to notice the 40 posters with vibrant colors and Ziraldo’s features.

This also ends up changing the meaning of the book. In the text, Flicts even states that he is fragile, ugly, afflicted and lonely. But there, wide open on the wall, in full view of everyone, exposed to the sun, wet from the rain, facing the dust from the buses, close to castles and walls, under the gaze of tourists, he can no longer say that he lives alone. “His white solitude” no longer exists.

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