“Realm of the Dead” Featured on Ground Works & at the a2ru National Conference
Sep 23, 2022
Realm of the Dead is a community-based art project and performance conceived, written, and performed by Dr. Rogério Meireles Pinto, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Pinto takes the audience on a journey as he recounts how he was consumed by the loss of his sister, Marília, who died in a sudden accident at just three years old, and by his later molestation by his father. The installation includes dozens of vintage suitcases and trunks that have been intricately crafted into sculptures, evoking how Pinto grew up in poverty in Brazil, and how at 21 he arrived in the United States and lived in New York City for nearly a decade as an undocumented immigrant. Each piece of luggage in the Realm of the Dead reflects an aspect of Pinto’s multiple physical and spiritual journeys; together they also represent the cemetery where Marília is buried. The performance includes material on ethnicity, race, gender, class, and other identities. Grounded in Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed, Realm of the Dead invites us to confront and to find creative ways to handle personal and social issues like grief, poverty, immigration, gender, sexual identity and sexual trauma.
Realm of the Dead is now a featured project on Ground Works, a2ru’s online platform for outstanding interdisciplinary arts-inclusive research.
Realm will also be performed live at our upcoming National Conference, “Exploring Artistic Research,” on November 3rd at 5:30pm and 8:00pm. Tickets are free for all conference attendees, but advance registration is required. The performances will be followed on November 4th by a panel discussion with Pinto and several of his collaborators on Realm, as well as an exhibition of the sculptures from the work.
Learn more at https://www.pintorealmdead.com/.