- Title
It’s Better Not to Know
- Artist
- Flavio Cerqueira
Flavio Cerqueira’s “It’s Better Not to Know” uses a young figure with closed eyes to frame not knowing as both self protection and social blindness. The permanence of bronze freezes a fleeting act of avoidance.
Born in São Paulo in 1983, Flavio Cerqueira combines traditional bronze casting with contemporary social narratives. The human figure remains central to his practice, while questions of class, identity, race and gender emerge through apparently ordinary gestures. Rather than staging grand historical scenes, Cerqueira often freezes a movement, a glance or an incomplete action. The viewer is therefore not simply a witness to a finished story, but a participant in producing its meaning.
“It’s Better Not to Know” places a young figure against the wall, covering their eyes in a pose suspended between waiting and refusal. The posture first suggests vulnerability, yet the title makes the scene more uneasy. Is not knowing a form of protection, or a decision not to look at what demands attention? By casting this moment in bronze, Cerqueira gives permanence to an act that would normally pass in seconds. The sculpture gains its force from leaving the ethical question unresolved and returning it to the viewer.
