This talk will discuss how artists working in Brazil in the 1970’s became interested in ecological issues as an attempt to build a critical position regarding the nationalistic and developmental projects and propaganda of the military regime.

Claudia Mattos-Avolese is Professor of Art History at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and member of the Comité international d’histoire de l’art (CIHA). She holds a Ph.D. from the Freie Universität Berlin, was a post-doc at the Courtauld Institute in London (2001), and a Research Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles (2012). She publishes primarily on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Brazilian art and art theory. Mattos-Avolese is currently working on a project on art and ecology in Brazil. Her recent essays include "Geography, Art Theory, and New Perspectives for an Inclusive Art History", Art Bulletin (October 2014), and “Existe-t-il un art brésilien?” Perspective (2/2013). She recently co-organized the conference “New Worlds: Frontiers, Inclusion, Utopias” which took place in Rio de Janeiro, August 25–29, 2015, soon to be published as a book.