Marcia Theophilo is a Brazilian poet and anthropologist and since many years,
she occupies an always much more important post in the Italian culture, especially
in Rome where she lives and works since the time of her fellowship with Murilo
Mendes and Rafael Alberti.
(…)
Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote in an article of 1973 on Giovanni Comisso, that:
“a painter or a writer doesn’t have origin, as for that. He is found in life
already a painter and a writer, for aprioristic destination, happiness, luck”.
This is the artistic path of Marcia Theophilo who, moving from the souvenir
of the Amazon Forest, of the myths and legends belonging to the jungle, attains
to the description of a place that doesn’t exist in no part of the Earth,
yet recognizable from those who notice the seduction of the word, the only
instrument able to break up the lock of the unconscious and to set free the
fantasy. Marcia Theophilo claims for herself, and for every artist, the absolute
freedom of movement demanded from a poetical journey. In the poetry collection
“Catuetê Curupira”(…) Marcia, <i>non a caso</i>, emphasize
first the following poetry:
“When I start singing
nobody knows what follows
horses, foxes, metals, stones
spells mountains of sand
go to rest, you may need,
to dream tire you out.”
Afterwards it’s severely forbidden the admission to the numerous who self
mutilate the sixth sense which is the one of the artistic production and fruition.
Theophilo has lived the avant-garde of her country; she belonged to the group
of artists working in San Paulo, among them: M. Bonomi, O. Araujo, Ubirajara,
L. Abramo and others. Yet it’s hardly placeable in a school or in a poetical
line. She represent the BWU (Brazilian Writers Union) in Italy and she is
correspondent of the newspaper “Escritor”.
Remarkable is Marcia’s curriculum in the readings and poetry festivals in
many places of Europe: from Rotterdam (1977) and from Struga (Jugoslavia,
1978) to Piazza di Siena in Rome (1980-1983-1984) and in other recitals that
will be too long to mention. Important, instead, to underline her presence
in meetings where the poets meet the new reading public exposing themselves
directly, without any partition and mediation, trusting only on the value
of their poetical versify.
Theophilo knows the theatricality of poetry and she cares the spectacular
aspect. She has also written two works for theatre. At present she’s working
on a great poem on the Brazilian Indians/Indios, and some poetries appeared
on the magazine Tempo Presente. Her inspiration borns from a revisiting, not
only literary, of the Amazon forest, elected as a metaphorical and symbolic
place where the human being is the enemy, destroyer of the nature and affixes
the mortal seal. The tragedy of the Amazon Forest is lived by Marcia Theophilo
with vigour and returned with great expressive capacities supported by the
rhythm and the musicality of the verses.
Giovanni Usai
in "L'Europa dei cittadini" june-july 1988
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