Carmen Miranda had a stroke on live TV during the Jimmy Durante Show. She died minutes after. At the time, she was one of the best paid woman in Hollywood. In a time when people of color were not hired for large or even small roles, she was able to break some barriers. In truth, she didn't brake any. She was a European immigrant to Brazil - a naturalized Brazilian. Of course, she was the perfect hire to represent Brazil and eventually the entire southern "rest" of the continent. Her collaboration with Hollywood would shape the way the entire world sees Latin America from then on. Symbols which represented corporations, mascots, etc. originated from this collaboration.
To this day Carmen Miranda is an important symbol for Brazilians as it is one of the only things that are recognizably Brazilian. It brings pain for some and joy for others. It is undeniably insensitive in multiple fronts. In "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat (Translated), 2014, I experiment with the notion of appropriation, colonization, and a hint of sexuality. The action of adding subtitles with a word for word translation in a very intimate constructed language brings attention a notion of exotification as well as exportation of a false representation. These images were screen throughout the world and she was indeed the most famous Brazilian of her time and perhaps to this date.