Caio de Carvalho Proença, “Photography and Neoliberalism in Brazil: Documentary Photography at the End of the Military Dictatorship (1980s)”
UIC Art History Colloquium
April 22, 2022
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Location
Zoom
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At this meeting I will talk more about the thesis I am currently working on, as a Visiting Scholar in the UIC's Art and Art History Department. The main issue at the time of the construction of this thesis is to understand how the photography of Carlos Carvalho, João Roberto Ripper, and Claudia Andujar contributed to social denunciations during the end of military dictatorship in Brazil. Decanting the work of these three photographers, I hope we will be able to see together that it is part of a network of other professionals who also saw inequalities with the same magnifying glass: in black-and-white photography, in a similar way to its subjects, in exchange of constant looks and a photograph that seeks to enter the subjective field of those who watch it, to reach artistic legitimacy and authorities that can make a practical change in the lives of people in vulnerable situations. Such authorities, however, are part of the main promoters of the violence recorded and documented by these photographers, closing a loop of social denunciation and conjuring the innocence of neoliberal institutions, by directly or indirectly supporting photographic works and by exempting themselves from the responsibility of the problems that neoliberalism generated in Brazil after 1980. Thus, closing a cycle of perpetuation of problems in our neoliberal society, with the continuation of contemporary slavery, environmental devastation, promotion of social inequalities, among other problems. We will have the opportunity to meet and dialogue with one of the photographers during this meeting: Carlos Carvalho. Information about Carlos Carvalho, including examples of his work, can be found here.
Originally from Porto Alegre, Brazil, Caio de Carvalho Proença is a Visiting Scholar in the UIC's Art and Art History Department, photographer, history teacher, and PhD student focusing on documentary photography and oral history from Brazil during the end of military dictatorship (1980-1990). His interests vary from how photojournalism in Brazil changed perceptions of social facts, and how the photo documentary amplified the trajectory from many photographers inside a context of social transformations and the rise of Neoliberalism in Brazil.
For a Zoom link, please email arthistory@uic.edu.
Date posted
Dec 12, 2021
Date updated
Apr 18, 2022