This painting and the others from Wiley’s series The World Stage: Brazil were created during the artist’s 2008-2009 residency in Brazil. As with Wiley’s previous work, this portrait confronts the idea of how power is defined and represented. In past work, Wiley has depicted African American males in poses drawn from iconic and art-historically important portraits of rich, powerful and usually white men. The Afro-Brazilian men in this portrait are residents of Rio’s favelas slums. Yet, in contrast to the historical source upon which their portrait is based, the men in Wiley’s painting stare boldly back at the viewer. Their monumental size further heightens the sense of the men’s empowerment.

Wiley’s work forces the viewer to confront the way that colonialism marginalizes indigenous peoples by labeling them exotic. Despite their humble social origins, the men in this portrait are transformed into symbols of power and valor that transcend their country’s history.

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