Ana Bellagamba MFA

"This research study presents a Brazilian social-cultural background focusing in the jewellery area of the artist as a theoretical-complementary aspect to the artistic development of the master studies. With the aim to find out the artist’s position in the field and as a professional, the driving question is to discover the values and influences that guide the material expression in the Brazilian culture. Therefore, there was a focus on the evolution of the Brazilian jewellery and its ramifications according to the political, cultural and economic structure during the 1990s and 2010s. In light of having not many or easily available literature besides the book and articles accessible online, the methodology used in this research was mainly interviews with mostly female artists, jewellers and researchers in the area active during the determined period that could help to enlighten the details of how jewellery stablished as it is today. From the experiences of the interviewers, the hypothesis confirmed that the chosen period consolidated jewellery in the country as it is today. The second intention was to place the cultural 5 conditions the artist was introduced into the jewellery field to correlate to the intimate language constructed on the pieces. Available information confirmed the positive under- standing that Brazilian jewellery changed during the turn of he century following the economy, political and cultural environment. It is this environment the artist was introduced into jewellery even though there is not yet a clearity on what are the exact and most evident Brazilian influences presented in the practical result."