The Retratistas do Morro exhibition opened at Sesc Pinheiros, in São Paulo. It is composed of photographs taken by Afonso Pimenta and João Mendes, in the period from 1960 to 1990 in the region of Aglomerado da Serra, a community south of Belo Horizonte. Considered the largest favela in Brazil, Aglomerado da Serra emerged at the beginning of the 20th century as a housing solution for people who went to work in the construction of the capital of Minas Gerais. According to popular leaders, today more than 150,000 people live there. The exhibition is an offshoot of the social project Retratistas do Morro, started by Guilherme Cunha in 2015, to contribute to the preservation of the national historical and cultural heritage and to broaden the understanding of the history of images in Brazil, especially the visual narratives produced by portrait artists who acted in communities. To this end, work was carried out to map, identify, catalog and restore the photographic collections of these portrait artists. Affective memories According to the curator, researcher and visual artist, Guilherme Cunha, the collection features the work of photographers who have worked over the last 50 years recording affective memories and the daily life of this community and also reveals that there was an artistic movement in Brazil of photographers who dedicated themselves to favelas. “This movement brings us another version of the reality of the history of Brazilian images. The effort of the project is for us to be able to rescue this memory and bring these stories to light through the restoration of this material”, said Guilherme. During the research, Afonso Pimenta and João Mendes stood out, who worked in the region since the end of the 1960s and have a significant volume of collection, including medium format (6×6) black and white negatives, 35mm color negatives, monocles and half-frame 35mm negatives. “The project understands that both of them – as residents of the community – bring a representation of images that we call autonomous images and images of the residents themselves. This work is different from being documentary, it is biographical, because there they are photographing colleagues, friends, people they live with on a daily basis, neighbors. So, we have another perspective and another understanding about the forms of representation of these communities”, said the curator. For the show at Sesc Pinheiros, Guilherme carried out an in-depth research process on the history of the community, in addition to curating the more than 250,000 negatives available in the collection. Of this selection, approximately 33,000 images were restored and present a historical perspective of the Aglomerado da Serra in the form of images. The curator explained that visitors to the exhibition will be able to get to know the people photographed not only by the portrait on the wall, since in the last three years interviews have been conducted with those photographed, allowing visitors to get to know them through audio and video. “We are also thinking of photography as a listening space, working with them in both the visual and oral dimensions. Interviews were recently done with people remembering that moment in the photos, bringing the memories that are there in the images, in addition to the memories of the photographers ”, he emphasized. Black and white The first images of João Mendes date back to 1968, although he established himself as one of the first professional photographers in the neighborhood, in 1973. His Foto Mendes store is located in the same place and is a reference. João became known for his black and white portraits, 3×4 for documents, made mainly for identity cards, and postal photos sent by the Post Office as letters or souvenir objects to relatives who often stayed in the countryside. In his collection there is a large collection of photographs of scholarships or graduations of children and young people from the place. Afonso Pimenta left São Pedro do Suaçuí, in Minas Gerais, in 1970 to live in Belo Horizonte, to help his godmother in one of the villages that form the community of Aglomerado da Serra. He was photographer João Mendes’ assistant and, while washing the images that had already been developed, he learned his future profession. Afonso established himself as a professional photographer when he started recording soul music dances in Comunidade da Serra, at the invitation of Misael Avelino dos Santos, one of the founders of Rádio Favela and organizer of the dances. * Collaborated with Sara Quines, from TV Brasil
Agência Brasil
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