‘Portugal at the Gallows’ was the name given to the intriguing work by its Algarvean creator, Élsio Menau. Sadly for him the installation piece included Portugal’s national flag.
The artist’s course work was on display for two days on vacant land at the edge of Faro and its alleged insulting nature caused him to be charged with the archaic crime of ‘outrage to the national flag.’
Menau was at the end of his degree in Visual Arts at the University of the Algarve and created ‘Portugal at the Gallows’ as a form of visual protest.
"It is a work that sought to show outrage at the state of the country,” said Menau who had made a noose hanging from a frame from which hung the Portuguese flag.
The piece worked on many levels. The single gallows with a forlorn flag placed in the middle of a mown field evoked a once proud nation, tripped up by its own folly, a jester at play, an insulting yet poigniant note of symbolism surrounded by a field of indifference, flat and unresponsive, the harvest is in, yet somehow the earth remains barren.... or, did it look like a grossly insulting response to the state's austerity programme? Either way, the law says this is an offence so it's off to court with Sr Menau.
The owner of the field had given his consent and the display caused a national sensation, especially after the young man’s arrest at a time when the country was enraged at the full implications of the government’s austerity programme.
GNR officers removed the flag after two days on display and Menau was summoned by the police to give a statement after a later video containing images of his and other work was circulated widely after the October 5th Republic Day celebrations last year. These were notable for the President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva's gaffe when he hoisted a flag which was immediately spotted as being hung upside down, a gross insult to the national symbol and to the government.
The Algarvean artist is to face trial next Monday, June 23rd, as it is claimed that his actions ‘injured a national symbol’ despite most sane peole holding the reasonable opinion that the lad did no harm and there must be more important things around with which to occupy the judiciary, such as a record backlog of court processes.
Élsio Menau insists that he never intended to ridicule the national flag but his work soon earned him national recognition and a day in court where many of his friends and supporters will gather to protest at the seeming pointlessness of the state highlighting an inherent repressive nature and wasting scarce judicial resources in prosecuting a student for expressing that which most of the country was thinking.
Update: Menau will hear his fate on the 7th of July.
