{"id":421567,"date":"2022-01-19T13:36:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T16:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=421567"},"modified":"2022-01-19T13:36:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T16:36:56","slug":"a-revelatory-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/a-revelatory-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"A revelatory picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women have had an active role in Latin American photography and its associated market since the nineteenth century, although they have rarely been recognized for their contributions. This is what researchers Helouise Costa and Erika Zerwes, organizers of the recently-released Mulheres fot\u00f3grafas\/mulheres fotografadas \u2013 Fotografia e g\u00eanero na Am\u00e9rica Latina <\/em>(Women photographers\/women photographed \u2013 photography and gender in Latin America; Intermeios, 2021) have found. The book includes 29 articles written in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, by scholars from countries like Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Germany. \u201cThe goal of this set of interdisciplinary articles is to help us understand the role of women in establishing photography as a professional artistic field, as well as the photographic representation of women in Latin America,\u201d explains Costa, a professor and curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (MAC-USP).<\/p>\n

The book is the result of a 2017 seminar with the same title, held at the institution following an international invitation. The event, in turn, was an offshoot of a postdoctoral study developed by Zerwes, under the supervision of Costa. Both initiatives were funded by FAPESP. \u201cMore than simply revealing unknown female photographers or curious aspects of their biographies, our goal was to question the reasons that led women to be less visible in the hegemonic narratives of the history of photography and to think about how they have been portrayed,\u201d points out Zerwes, currently developing research at the German Center for Art History in Paris.<\/p>\n

Hence the focus on gender. \u201cMany believe gender studies are only about women, but one can study gender from the perspective of men or the LGBTQ+ community,\u201d points out Costa. \u201cThe goal is to understand, for example, how gender has affected the work and recognition of a certain group.\u201d Zerwes agrees. \u201cIn our case, gender studies can illuminate the power relations that sustain the professional and artistic circuit of photography in different historical contexts,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Booed for being a woman<\/strong>
\nAccording to the book, the role of women in photography in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was first and foremost linked to the handmade crafts created behind the scenes of family businesses and commercial studios. This occurred both in European countries and in the United States and Latin America. \u201cWomen, whose access to art academies was forbidden, sought out alternative activities in which they could exercise their creativity,\u201d write Costa and Zerwes in the book introduction. \u201cIn the field of photography, they were valued for their supposed inherent manual skills, which made them highly sought after to work in photo labs, as well as for retouching and colorizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article \u201cNo limite da invisibilidade: Mulheres fot\u00f3grafas no Brasil na primeira metade do s\u00e9culo XX\u201d (On the edge of invisibility: women photographers in Brazil during the first half of the twentieth century), included in the book, is authored by Costa. One of the four female professionals whose careers are analyzed by the researcher is Mary Zilda Grassia Sereno (1909\u20131998), from Rio de Janeiro, who worked for Brazilian newspapers between the 1940s and the 1970s. \u201cWhile she worked on many different kinds of content, her passion was photographing soccer,\u201d shares Costa. \u201cAmong other achievements, she was the only female photographer to cover the 1950 World Cup. Upon entering the field, at Maracan\u00e3 Stadium, she was loudly booed for being a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costa states there are still few robust studies associating photography and gender in the world. In Brazil, interest in the topic has been building for the last 10 years or so. Advancing research has revealed details about the careers of figures like German photographer Fanny Paul Volk (c. 1867\u20131948), who migrated to Curitiba (Paran\u00e1) with her family at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1881 she began working behind the scenes at a photo studio belonging to her fellow countryman Hermann Adolpho Volk, whom she would marry five years later. \u201cFanny\u2019s mother, Anna, who also worked in the studio, taught her to take photos at a young age,\u201d shares Giovana Sim\u00e3o, author of the PhD thesis \u201cFanny Paul Volk: Pioneira na fotografia de est\u00fadio em Curitiba\u201d (Fanny Paul Volk: a pioneer in studio photography in Curitiba), defended as part of the sociology program at the Federal University of Paran\u00e1 (UFPR).<\/p>\n

Later, in 1904, Volk decided to return to Germany by himself. Before leaving, he gave the studio to his ex-wife, who became its main photographer and manager, serving the local elite. \u201cShe created a network of correspondents in Brazil and Germany, imported equipment from there, and advertised job openings in publications in Berlin,\u201d adds Sim\u00e3o, a professor at the School of Music and Fine Arts at the State University of Paran\u00e1 (UNESPAR). \u201cShe would also take photos outside the studio, including of men, which was daring for the time.\u201d This went on until 1918, when, around the age of 50, Volk sold the business to focus on her grandchildren. \u201cRemoving herself from the photography scene contributed to her disappearance from the history of Brazilian photography,\u201d notes the researcher.<\/p>\n

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Casa da Mem\u00f3ria \u2013 Cultural Foundation of Curitiba<\/span><\/a> Portrait of Angelo Casagrande and his son Elviro, taken in Curitiba by Fanny VolkCasa da Mem\u00f3ria \u2013 Cultural Foundation of Curitiba<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Missing archives<\/strong>
\nZerwes recalls that, between 1910 and 1930, the figure of the \u201cmodern woman\u201d emerged in Europe, especially in Germany, driven by women entering the public sphere and the workforce. Widely publicized by the press at the time, this image was particularly significant for the history of Latin American photography. \u201cWhile it was a very strong cultural trait in Germany and in the Weimar Republic (1919\u20131933)\u2014where many of the photographers who settled in Latin America during the 1930s came from or moved to\u2014photography was much sought after by these women, as it was one of the few areas accessible to women during that period,\u201d explains the researcher.<\/p>\n

Among them are Alice Brill (1920\u20132013) and Hildegard Rosenthal (1913\u20131990), who arrived in Brazil in the 1930s. \u201cIn addition to the architecture and urban settings of downtown S\u00e3o Paulo in the 1940s and 1950s, they photographed its regulars, anonymous characters from different social strata,\u201d says researcher Yara Schreiber Dines, author of the book Hildegard Rosenthal e Alice Brill, fot\u00f3grafas de al\u00e9m-mar \u2013 Cosmopolitismo e modernidade nos olhares sobre S\u00e3o Paulo <\/em>(Hildegard Rosenthal and Alice Brill, overseas photographers \u2013 cosmopolitanism and modernity in their view of S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Intermeios, 2020). In the book, a result of her postdoctoral research conducted at the USP School of Communications and Arts (ECA), Dines\u2014part of the Contemporary Anthropology Group (GEPAC) at the S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara campus\u2014also analyzes two fictional photographic essays published by Rosenthal in the early 1940s. The first consists of a series of self-portraits, while the other, named Alter ego<\/em> by the researcher, features a model circulating through downtown S\u00e3o Paulo. \u201cIn both series, she seeks to create the image of a modern and independent woman,\u201d she analyses.<\/p>\n

According to K\u00e1tia Hallak Lombardi, a professor in the Social Communication program at the Federal University of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o del-Rei (UFSJ), the photographers began to gain visibility on the national scene in the second half of the twentieth century, much like Brazilian photographers Nair Benedicto and Rosa Gauditano. This is also the case for Swiss-born Claudia Andujar, who moved to Brazil in 1955 and is now recognized, not only for her photography work, but also for fighting on behalf of the Yanomami people (see <\/em>Pesquisa FAPESP issue n\u00ba 276<\/em><\/a>). \u201cShe often photographed the female body, especially that of indigenous women, but she never portrayed women in an idealized or stereotyped way. Instead, what we see are depictions of women amongst the simplicity of everyday life,\u201d observes the researcher, author of one of the articles in the book organized by Costa and Zerwes.<\/p>\n

Andujar\u2019s work can be seen in books and spaces such as the Inhotim Institute in Minas Gerais, which houses a gallery with more than 400 images. \u201cAndujar is an exception. The lack of archives is an obstacle for researchers investigating the careers of women photographers in Brazil,\u201d says Lombardi. According to Helouise Costa, many of these collections were lost over time. \u201cSome were destroyed by the photographers themselves or by their families, who did not see the value of what they produced,\u201d she says. \u201cWithout the images, researchers must turn to the historical and sociological context to understand the career trajectory of these photographers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible to study photographers or photographic series without analyzing their publications or the debates that took place in the printed pages dedicated to their works,\u201d defends Eduardo Augusto Costa, from the USP School of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU). An expert in archives and collections, he has found around 1,300 photography books and catalogs published in Brazil throughout the twentieth century. The goal is to establish a public library on the subject. According to Costa, despite the publishing of books by photographers, such as Rio de Janeiro native Claudia Jaguaribe and British-born Maureen Bisilliat, and photography historians such as Solange Ferraz de Lima and V\u00e2nia Carneiro de Carvalho, women see very little representation in this field in Brazil. \u201cAnd part of the known history comes from whatever was edited, published, and publicized,\u201d he observes.<\/p>\n

The FAU professor states that the photography publishing market gained strength in Brazil from the 1970s onwards, thanks to the National Arts Foundation (FUNARTE), an organization founded in 1975 and linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) at the time. \u201cThe photography nucleus of FUNARTE\u2014structured around the foundation\u2019s gallery, which would later become more organized through the FUNARTE National Institute of Photography\u2014was responsible for more than 50 publications between the 1970s and 1980s. They included three catalogs on the role of women photographers in the Brazilian photography scene, something unusual at the time,\u201d says the expert, who also authored one of the articles in Costa and Zerwes\u2019s book. He believes the role of FUNARTE reveals the importance of public policies on culture. \u201cMany of these FUNARTE photography initiatives can be credited to the women who worked at the institution at that time, such as Elizabeth Carvalho and Solange Z\u00fa\u00f1iga.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Galeria Vermelho<\/span><\/a> Captured through the lenses of Claudia Andujar, Susi and Mariazinha Korihana Th\u00ebri bathe in an igap\u00f3<\/em> (stretch of forest containing stagnant water), in the state of Roraima. The image is part of the 1974 series \u201cA floresta\u201d (The woods)Galeria Vermelho<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

No credit<\/strong>
\nRediscovering the role of women in ethnographic photography is the motto of the project Antropologia, fotografia e patrim\u00f4nio material no Brasil: Uma perspectiva de g\u00eanero<\/em> (Anthropology, photography, and material heritage in Brazil: a gender perspective), developed by the research group Genders, Images and Politics, at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (GIP-UFRGS). \u201cEspecially in the first half of the twentieth century, many of these women who carried out fieldwork alongside their husbands were seen as mere research assistants, such as anthropologist, ethnologist, and museologist Berta Gleiser (1924\u20131997), who was married to anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro (1922\u20131997). And this role was not always given credit, especially when it came to producing images,\u201d points out anthropologist Fabiene Gama, coordinator of this research project.<\/p>\n

In partnership with anthropologists Barbara Copque, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), and Fernanda Rechenberg, from the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), Gama is also organizing a dossier on gender and image, scheduled to be published later this year in the UFRGS magazine Iluminuras<\/em>. \u201cThe idea is to discuss not only photography, but also cinema and illustration,\u201d says Rechenberg, head of the Study Group on Image and Feminism (GIF) at UFAL, part of a research project on the photographic scene in the capital of Alagoas. \u201cOne of the research initiatives was to investigate the female photographers who worked in Macei\u00f3 from the 1990s onwards. We also focused on the photography collectives of young women that have been emerging in the city in recent years,\u201d explains Rechenberg. \u201cWe want to understand why these professionals have been less prominent than men and how class and race deepen this gender asymmetry,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n

Project<\/strong>
\nNotions of humanism in documentary photography between the 1930s and 1950s (n\u00ba 14\/14565-2<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong> Postdoctoral Fellowship; Supervisor<\/strong> Helouise Lima Costa (USP); Grant Beneficiary<\/strong> Erika Cazzonatto Zerwes; Investment <\/strong>R$272,255.55.<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong>
\nCOSTA, H. & ZERWES, E. (org.). Mulheres fot\u00f3grafas\/mulheres fotografadas: Fotografia e g\u00eanero na Am\u00e9rica Latina<\/strong>. S\u00e3o Paulo: Intermeios, 2021.
\nDINES, Y. S. Hildegard Rosenthal e Alice Brill, fot\u00f3grafas de al\u00e9m-mar: Cosmopolitismo e modernidade nos olhares sobre S\u00e3o Paulo<\/strong>. S\u00e3o Paulo: Intermeios, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Studies show that women played an active role in the history of Latin American photography, with next to no recognition","protected":false},"author":689,"featured_media":420837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[204],"coauthors":[3453],"class_list":["post-421567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities","tag-visual-arts","keywords-gender","keywords-photography"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421567"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421711,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421567\/revisions\/421711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421567"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=421567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}