Abstract
Brazil has a distinctive history of arts-activist literacy practices dating back to contestations of military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. Linking this background to social movements in 2013 and 2014 contesting the impacts of global ‘mega-events’ in Rio de Janeiro, this article focuses on a so-called ‘anti-World Cup street decorating’ campaign realized across multiple sites including the Maré favelas. In the campaign actions described, names and personal portraits appear centrally as symbols of protest, disseminated through a wide range of art-activist practices, but especially through the use of stencil.