Fúlvio Giuliano e o campo institucional da arte na Amazônia amapaense (1962-1985)

Abstract

This study investigates the social, political, religious, and aesthetic articulations surrounding the artistic production of Fúlvio Francesco Giuliano in the Amapá Amazon between 1962 and 1985, a period marked by the activities of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) and the federal government's modernization projects in the then Federal Territory of Amapá. Anchored in the social history of art, the research understands art not only as an aesthetic expression but also as a historical document and a social practice intersected by power relations, symbolic disputes, and processes of identity construction. The investigation analyzes Fúlvio Giuliano's paintings, murals, and icons in dialogue with written sources – parish reports, periodicals, institutional documents, and ecclesiastical records – through the triangulation of bibliographies, images, and sources. Based on this analysis, it is demonstrated that Catholic missionary activity utilized art as a pedagogical and moralizing instrument, embedded within a hegemonic project aimed at the romanization of Amapá society. However, the artist's works reveal cracks in this discourse by depicting riverine daily life, social ills, funeral rituals, and the tensions between official faith and popular faith. The iconographic and iconological analysis of works such as Thus Pracaxi Died (1975), Benedito Just Suffered (1976), The Last Sacrament (1975), The Flight of the People of God (1985), and Crucified Jesus (1984) highlights how these images function as historical testimonies of Amazonian life and the condition of subordinated subjects. It is concluded that Fúlvio Giuliano's production decisively contributed to the formation of a regional artistic system, while simultaneously challenging traditional narratives of art history in Amapá. The thesis thus proposes a critical reading of missionary art, affirming the centrality of images in constructing a historiography sensitive to the cultural, social, and symbolic specificities of the Amapá Amazon.