Charis McGowan is a journalist who writes on travel, underground culture and rights for media including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, NME, Polyester, Al Jazeera, VICE and was formerly a music editor at gal-dem. 

She is currently a staff writer at Trippin .

Charis McGowan

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Brazilian Modernism

 is currently on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from January 28-April 21.

In 2024, Brazil welcomed the most international visitors in its recorded history.  Over 6.6 million people travelled to a country where Baile Funk and Passinho meet sultry Bossa Nova and maze-like street markets blend with 

 parties. Brazil’s multi-layered identity is revered the world over—glimpsed in the yellow and green of a flip-flop or the shuffle of a samba step

Yet over a hundred years ago, when Brazil was a fledgling republic, this sense of identity was neither clear nor celebrated. Art and culture struggled against a dominant influence of Europe, and intellectuals sought to imitate the elitism of the old continent. while overlooking the beauty of Brazil’s everyday people and landscapes. Recognising and celebrating a diverse national identity—from Afro-Brazilians to the country's many Indigenous groups—was a radical act.

“I want to be the painter of my country”

 in 1886, led a movement to capture Brazil in all its vibrant shades. Writing home in 1923, she declared simply: 'I want to be the painter of my country.'

Tarsila went on to lead the anthropophagite movement, which means to eat human flesh. She evoked the figurative concept of cannibalism as a metaphor to subvert colonial dominance on art and culture, seeking to devour Europe's bustling intellectual scene to nurture her own Brazilian creativity. With its mixture of indigenous people, descendants of African slaves and immigrant workers from Europe and Asia, Brazil was ready for a 

 style that deserved to be valued in its own right.

Tarsila, alongside female contemporaries Anita Malfatti and Djanira da Motta e Silva are among the most important artists of Brazil's modernist movement. Painting the landscapes, people and traditions of their homeland was a subversive denial of the traditional European taste for religious, historical realism. In this new artistic style, for a freshly emerging republic, realities were warped under the lens of 

 and imaginative figuration was enthusiastically embraced.

Anita Malfatti was 27-years old when she showed several works at a Sao Paulo exhibition in 1917. Her art centered the ordinary Brazilian life; of countryside workers gathering fruits, the body of a man camouflage among the huge stems of tropical plants. Her contemporaries ridiculed and criticised her taste in subjects, her style dismissed as caricaturesque. She sold only a few works, and after critics unleashed their torrent of hatred towards the young woman, the buyers returned or destroyed their works.

Today, the exhibition is considered the birth of Brazilian modernism. A few years later, Malfatti teamed up with Tarsila, alongside writers Mario and Oswald de Andrade and Menotti del Picchia to form a collective called Grupo dos Cinco. The work of the members led to the 1922 art fair Semana de Arte Moderna, which cemented their ideas and highlighted Brazil’s place as a frontrunner in modern art that confronted entrenched European conservative tastes prevalent in Brazil’s elite circles.

‘We must look and see what’s really ours. We eat churrasco and eat vatapá, yet insist on painting French still lifes."

Two decades later, an artist called Djanira da Motta e Silva was similarly preoccupied with depicting daily Brazilian life, especially interested in showing the cultural diversity of her country. "We must look and see what’s really ours. We eat churrasco and eat vatapá, yet insist on painting French still life." she wrote in a 1952 article titled, 

Inspired by the works of Tarsila, Djanira similarly sought to portray local people in traditional activity. She travelled Brazil to showcase its cultural diversity—from the movements of Candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian religion) to the sound of Caboclinhos (indigenous folkloric dance). An artist with Indigenous heritage, she spent time with the Canela people in northern-Brazilian state Maranhão, furthering her artistic commitment to identity.

Depicting the diversity identities of Brazil’s common labourers was radical at a time of military dictatorship in Brazil. Tarsila was briefly imprisoned during the Vargas dictatorship in the 1930s for her leftist ideology, while Djanira was also arrested for inquiry in the 1960s under the military regime.

These three painters played a pivotal role in shaping post-colonial thought that honoured heritage and identity, transforming global perceptions of South American art, While they were criticised and sneered upon during their lifetimes, their work is now  revered.


 cultural movement embraced the works of Tarsila which firmly established her as one of Latin America's most important artist. Her most famous work, 

' MALBA museum, while a 2019 retrospective on Tarsila at São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) became the most-visited exhibition in the museum’s history.

Through rich textures, contrasting colours, and the surrealism inherent in its layered and singular culture, their paintings have been instrumental in shaping the nation's emerging identity, highlighting the importance and diversity of the everyday people who pulse through Brazil's lifeblood. 

Brazil

São Paulo

Rio de Janeiro

How Brazil's Female Modernists Shaped a Subversive National Identity  

Puerto Rico is a singular force in the Caribbean, drawing in an ever-growing wave of tourism for its powerful creative scene, beautiful beaches and great food. But the industry's rise has led to growing tensions over the cultural impacts of 

, a struggle Bad Bunny addresses in the album, 

Quieren quitarme el río y también la playa / Quieren el barrio mío y que abuelita se vaya"

 — they want to take the river, and also the beach, they want my neighbourhood, and to kick out my grandmother, sings Bad Bunny aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio on the song 'LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii’ from his sixth solo album.

BAD BUNNY - LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii

It feels timely— just days before the album dropped, a white tourist from Missouri set fire to a bar in Cabo Rojo. After being kicked out for aggressively insisting on buying shots after closing hours, she returned with a tank of gasoline, burning down the bar and two neighbouring businesses—all of which were owned by local Puerto Ricans.

“They’re trying to take away my beaches, little by little: they keep coming and selling them.” 

Benito's new album laments the changing tides of Puerto Rico; where white sandy beaches have been taken from locals and colonised by wealthy, white outsiders. Exploring homesickness, family and tradition, 

 translates to “I should have taken more photos”.

“They’re trying to take away my beaches, little by little: they keep coming and selling them,” Benito told TIME ahead of the album’s release. “There are a lot of people who are fighting, raising their voices, and protecting the beaches.”

Such scenes are sadly common in island paradises: from 

. In the song, Benito refers to Hawaii as a cautionary tale of what spiralling tourism does to local livelihoods.

priced out and forced to search for opportunity in the mainland United States.

Any local from a rapidly overrun tourist destination can relate to the phrase "I should have taken more photos"

Puerto Ricans are desperately rallying against this fate. In 2022, sledgehammer-carrying locals symbolically dismantled the construction of an infinity pool on Los Almendros beach after successfully protesting against the development of a glitzy condominium. Other recent protests included a gringo cos-play party and a beach volleyball tournament in front of the multi-million dollar property attempting to illegally privatise an area of the Ocean Park beach.

Local resistance is struggling against a wave of private developments in Puerto Rico, which remains contentiously tied to the U.S. as an unincorporated territory. Noticing this while driving around the country in 2024, Benito was anguished to the point of tears.


“Tourists come here to enjoy the beautiful places, and then they leave and they don't have to deal with the problems that Puerto Ricans have to deal with day-to-day,” Benito told TIME.

On the forlorn song ‘TURiSTA’, he connects the image of the tourist as a romantic moonlighter who only stays for the good qualities, and ignores the hard bits, “you only saw the best of me, not the pain I was going through”. He describes the album as his most Puerto Rican to date, featuring only local musicians and built on the island’s rhythms and styles, from the countryside 

 rhythm on Pitorro de Coco or the expressive 

The album’s accompanying short film further explores the feeling of alienation at home: the central scene focuses on an elderly Boricua (a person from Puerto Rico) attempting to simply buy food. Entering a bakery overrun by foreigners, he finds traditional favourites replaced by gentrified guava quesitos. Unable to order in Spanish, he’s forced to speak English. The exorbitant price and cashless policy leave him stranded until another Boricua steps in to pay.

It’s worth considering how close Benito really is to a traditional Puerto Rican life. He owns multiple houses in LA, where he lives most of the year. He dated Kendall Jenner, and has appeared in Hollywood movies—a far cry from the traditional Boricua reality he claims is disappearing. but despite this apparent disconnect, his voice as one of the world’s most influential artists is crucial in amplifying the struggles of his homeland.

Puerto Rico’s official tourism platform, Discover Puerto Rico, proudly invites visitors to "

", commodifying the Puerto Rican culture that Benito holds so dear. The CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, Brad Dean, is a white guy from Illinois who took the job after being 

 in his former role in Myrtle Beach. Dean has spearheaded the privatisation of Puerto Rico’s tourism sector. He’s 

 for calling out the darker impacts of his tourism push.

Bad Bunny's voice as one of the world’s most influential artists is crucial in amplifying the struggles of his homeland.

 has fuelled a surge of mainlanders buying homes in Puerto Rico, drawn by 

beachfront views and generous tax incentives

, with demand for luxury units skyrocketing. 


Any local from a rapidly overrun tourist destination can relate to the phrase "I should have taken more photos". As to what we, as visitors, can take away from the album is to be aware: 

, respect their policies, do not stay at resorts that are embroiled in local land disputes, and practice some local language.

Oh, and think twice about that guava quesito order.

Puerto Rico

Bad Bunny's New Album Confronts the Dark Realities of Tourism in Puerto Rico

A few years ago, Poland was making international headlines for its regressive politics: the far-right PiS government imposed strict anti-abortion laws and established so-called "LGBT-free zones."

Under Polish conservatism, tattoos were similarly stigmatised, often associated with criminality and largely dismissed as a legitimate art form. However, the tide is turning. In late Dec 2023, the PiS government lost the election to the more progressive Civic Coalition, signalling a broader demand toward liberal values. Attitudes toward tattoos are evolving in tandem. 

"A few years ago, older generations weren’t too comfortable with people covered in tattoos," says Natalia, a 28-year-old tattoo artist who tattoos under the moniker  

. "But now, people are starting to accept them more."

She’s not sure if Poland’s current tattoo boom is down to political change—(“or maybe it’s just me trying not to connect everything with politics”). Today, Poland's tattoo scene is thriving, with studios across the country showcasing some of the world's most talented artists. This includes a new wave of tattooists unafraid to play with contemporary styles like ignorant tattoo, cybersigilism and trash. 

Part of this younger generation, Natalia leans on local sources of inspiration: citing 1930s folk embroidery as one of her current fixtures. Her work embraces an ignorant-style defined by simplicity, humour, and freestyle creativity. In the decade she’s been  in the tattoo scene, she’s witnessed the evolution of the tattoo landscape firsthand. "When I started tattooing, it was all about geometry, floral compositions, and realism," she recalls. "But over time, more people got into it, and now it feels like there are more tattoo artists than clients.”

“We have a lot of extremely talented and unique artists. We’ve definitely developed some great modern tattoo styles but we also have a lot of strong players in an old school scene,” says Domi (@decaytattooer/), who describes her work as modern, gothic, ‘bestiary of the bizarre’.  Domi believes Poland, in particular, is home to the trash / anti style of the contemporary scene, which is in “constant creation”: “before it was bold trashy outline, atm its all about messy shadings and playing with chiaroscuro”.

Like Natalia, Domi has also noted the changing in views on tattoos: "Tattoos here were quite stigmatised not so long ago, especially by the elder generation," she tells Trippin. "A lot of Polish seniors had this image in their heads about tattoos in general. For some of them the association was extremely unpleasant and traumatic as it reminded them about World War II and ghetto tattoo marks etc,"

Yet this connotation is changing, even in the eight years she's been working as an artist, especially in the ambitions and creativity of artists: "I can see a massive change over last few years. Warsaw, and also other big cities in Poland, right now are definitely at the same level of tolerance at most spectres, as it exists in other capitals or big cities of western European countries. In every big Polish city you can find amazing artists and studios."

However, like in many places across the world, there’s still a big difference between cities and countryside. Natalia’s family is from the more conservative and religious part of eastern Poland, and she has had to cut ties with family who don’t approve of her career or lifestyle. To have a tattoo—and to dedicate your career to as an artist—can go against an entrenched trad-conservatism in Poland, which is even more reason to support the emerging scene.

We've compiled a directory of artists and below, with recommendations from Natalia and Domi. We've also added a few in ourselves. 