(a)


	

	(b)


		Flávio Ferraz, (a) Money (front), 12.417 x 5.319 in, 1995.
		(b) Money (back), 12.417 x 5.319 in, 1995.


____________________________


			In the land of Carnival, revelry often takes
			precedence over awareness of social issues.
			Inflation and the constant change of currency
	destabilize not only business, but also emotions and personal
	relationships.Not knowing the value of things makes us
	question our own value.It often makes us lose our identity.
	I don't know what I have. I don't know who I am. In Carnival,
	however, everything is possible and permissible. During
	Carnival, I cross-dress and become a Queen. The carnivalesque
	group of dancers "Bloco do Barril" ("The Barrel Bunch") 
	parades on the streets of the city São Joao Nepomuceno,
	in Minas Gerais, Brazil, giving away typically Brazilian
	alcoholic beverages (batida de limao [a drink made of brandy,
	lemon and sugar] and cachaça [sugar-cane brandy])
		and happiness. With critical irreverence, the Bloco do
		Barril becomes a social, political and economic caricature
		of the country. It reverses all roles and laughs at the
		painful experience of daily life.

		The work shown here shares the same irreverence exhibited
		by this carnivalesque group. It is my design for a new
		currency, which I have called barril, in a direct reference
		to the Bloco do Barril---the "one-barril" bill, front
		and back. On the front of the bill the viewer sees a
		photograph of myself, wearing a dress that I designed and 
		wore during the Carnival of 1994. The viewer also sees 
		the words salve-se (save yourself), a fragment of
		salve-se quem puder (everyone for himself). In addition,
		the sentence salve a rainha (save the queen)
		also adorns the front of the bill. The back of the bill
		shows a close-up of my photograph as the queen of Carnival
		(left) and a picture of a reclining male nude in a pensive
		mood. The text reads vire-se, which in Portuguese is 
	ambiguous and can mean both "make do" and "turn around."

	My one-barril bill is a critique of the perverse carnivalization 
	of the country. It has no buying power. It only has sale power.
	It is produced and reproduced on a computer and therefore has an 
	unlimited run. This and other similar pieces of mine are sold as
	light boxes, and its price is a function of scale.



					Flávio Ferraz
					Rua Dr. Veiga Filho 176, Apt. 22
					Higienópolis
					São Paulo, SP, 01229-000
					Brazil








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