The Vale Maranhão Cultural Center will host the NUPPI – Image Research and Production Center to celebrate World Photography Day on August 16. With the theme Maramazônia: Imaginaries of the Maranhão Amazon, the event seeks to broaden our views on the region, as well as to stimulate sensitive perception and reflection surrounding images, as a way of deepening knowledge about artistic expressions and collective experience in the territories of the Legal Amazon.
The event proposes a training program on the subject of photography, based on a round table with artists, photographers and researchers in the area, as well as a workshop and a photoprojection session, selected based on the “Amazonian Sharers” call. The project takes as a model an initiative already carried out since 2008 by the NUPPI Collective at events commemorating World Photography Day, this time organized with the support of the CCVM based on the Public Notice Ocupa CCVM — Amazônia em Foco 2024.
The round table will be held in person, at the CCVM, on August 16, starting at 17:00. Hours will be certified for listeners who are on site. With the theme Maramazônia – Imaginaries of the Maranhão Amazon, it will bring together photographers, visual artists and researchers with the objective of sharing experiences about producing images in the midst of the region’s different contexts. The panel will be composed of Camila Fialho, Pablo Monteiro and Genilson Guajajara.
– Genilson Guajajara: from the Guajajara people, he comes from the village of Piçarra Preta, in the indigenous territory of the Pindaré River, Maranhão. As a thoughtful and emotional storyteller, he uses photography to express the experiences of his community. His work addresses topics such as community, ancient wisdom, indigenous cosmology, rituals, and ceremonies. Genilson’s resistance is deeply tied to the vital territories and biomes that his community strives to protect.
– Pablo Monteiro: graduated in History, with a specialization in Oral History. His research and documentary works use images and sound to record practices from the Afro-Brazilian universe, especially in religion and festivities. She works at the production company Bicho d’Água Filmes, creating and intermediating audiovisual content with peripheral approaches, prioritizing black narratives. Director of films such as “Who Passed First Was Saint Benedict” (2017) and “Princess of My Place” (2020), his photographic works express the diversity of popular culture in Maranhão in a wide inventory of its practices, subjects, and rituals.
– Camila Fialho: born in Porto Alegre, RS, in 1980, and living in Belém since 2014. Camila is an artist, curator and weaver of artistic processes, currently a doctoral student in the Postgraduate Program in Arts at UFPA. Collaborator of Fotoativa since 2014 and former president of the association. She currently coordinates the Fotoativa in Residence program. His research explores the poetics of displacement, landscape, body, and space, focusing on collaborative practices and publication as a support for creation.
The culmination of the event will be the screening of photo essays “Amazonian Sharers”, which will show images selected from the photographic call already held publicly. The photos, sent by photographers from the territories that make up the Legal Amazon, will be designed to celebrate the coexistence between nature and Amazonian society. The projection aims to present a vibrant and diverse Amazon, reflecting the multiple experiences of its inhabitants and transcending the common Amazonian stereotype often represented by institutional images.
The mobgraphy workshop will be given by photographer Alan Rodrigues on the morning of the 16th. The objective is to explore the potential of mobile photography (taken with smartphones), promoting a space for the exchange of knowledge and reflection on the exercise of the eye and perception in photography. Participants will learn composition, lighting, and editing techniques, using their mobile devices to produce photographic images.
– Alan Rodrigues: photographer from Maranhão living in the neighborhood of Fátima, in São Luís. He is known for capturing the essence of the city and local culture in his images, sharing his art on Instagram @caosinfinito. His works have already been shown at renowned galleries and festivals, such as the Brasilia PhotoShow and the Vogue Italia PhotoVogue Festival.
Below is the shortlist and the waiting list