Temporary Monument #6: O Cadeado - a photographic installation, 2017

Acrylic photo print on aluminium dibond backing, framed in wood and plywood frame with magnets.

I chain myself to a street post with a bicycle lock in the area of Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro in front of an abandoned tall building around 10 p.m. With this action, I replicate an episode from a couple of years ago, when the so-called vigilantes punished a 14-year-old street robber by beating him almost to death, cutting half of his ear, stripping him naked, and fixing him to exactly the same street post with a bicycle lock. The boy was released only around 5 a.m. when a local school teacher, Yvonne Bezerra, called the fire brigade that managed to break the bicycle lock and take him to the hospital. My experiment carried a different result: every 5 minutes, cars driven by locals pulled over to try to help, release me, generally to make me feel better. I was visited numerous times by the police and the fire brigade. I did not speak and seemed to not notice the commotion. This was quite disappointing to my potential saviors – ergo, gringos shouldn’t suffer. My performance is over in the small hours of the morning with the arrival of BOP, a group of the military police. Their visit is never a joke, so I succumb to my freedom.

• Limited Edition of 5 + 2 AP,2017: 46,5 x 39,8 x 4,1cm (open), 31,1 x 39,8 x 8,2cm (closed)