Wifredo Lam’s Artistic Cannibalism
Wednesday, February 12, 2020: 2:40 PM
Astoria Room (Hilton Chicago)
In this paper, I will explore Lam’s El Tercer Mundo (The Third World) (1965-1966) and its
symbolic intimation of cannibalism. In his “Manifesto Antropófago” (Cannibalist Manifesto) of
1928, the Brazilian modernist poet Oswald de Andrade’s discussion of the cannibal metaphor
allowed the modern Brazilian subject to ‘devour’ his colonial identity in order to construct a
culture that was original in its own way. For de Andrade, cannibalism is a life-affirming
endeavor that devours the enemy. At the same time, this carnal cannibalism is revitalizing and
liberates the mind in an effort to spawn creativity. In a similar vein, literary scholar Valerie
Loichot defines the historical practice of Caribbean writers engaging in literary cannibalism to
refer to the conscious effort “to devour fragments of texts written mostly, but not only, by
European or colonial writers. This act of ingestion... is driven by a violence that responds to
revenge or of justice.” Literary cannibalism, in fact, questions the validity of the wide-held claim
that Europe is the custodian of originality, which is dependent on the precept that writers of the
colonies are mere imitators, cannibals of these texts. One can argue that visual artists like
Wifredo Lam engaged in a type of artistic cannibalism. This paper will demonstrate how El
Tercer Mundo epitomizes artistic cannibalism in very striking ways. Moreover, I will elucidate
how the work is global in its call for oppressed nations to reclaim and assert their power during
the era of the Cold War.
symbolic intimation of cannibalism. In his “Manifesto Antropófago” (Cannibalist Manifesto) of
1928, the Brazilian modernist poet Oswald de Andrade’s discussion of the cannibal metaphor
allowed the modern Brazilian subject to ‘devour’ his colonial identity in order to construct a
culture that was original in its own way. For de Andrade, cannibalism is a life-affirming
endeavor that devours the enemy. At the same time, this carnal cannibalism is revitalizing and
liberates the mind in an effort to spawn creativity. In a similar vein, literary scholar Valerie
Loichot defines the historical practice of Caribbean writers engaging in literary cannibalism to
refer to the conscious effort “to devour fragments of texts written mostly, but not only, by
European or colonial writers. This act of ingestion... is driven by a violence that responds to
revenge or of justice.” Literary cannibalism, in fact, questions the validity of the wide-held claim
that Europe is the custodian of originality, which is dependent on the precept that writers of the
colonies are mere imitators, cannibals of these texts. One can argue that visual artists like
Wifredo Lam engaged in a type of artistic cannibalism. This paper will demonstrate how El
Tercer Mundo epitomizes artistic cannibalism in very striking ways. Moreover, I will elucidate
how the work is global in its call for oppressed nations to reclaim and assert their power during
the era of the Cold War.