If this street were mine
Raphael Alves
If this street were mine
Raphael Alves
“Se essa rua Se essa rua fosse minha Eu mandava Eu mandava ladrilhar Com pedrinhas Com pedrinhas de brilhantes Para o meu Para o meu amor passar [...]”
“If this street/ If this street were mine /I would have/ I would have it tiled/ With pebbles/ With shiny pebbles/ So my love/ so my love could pass there [...]” ( Se essa rua fosse minha” - Brazilian popular lullaby)
In homage to my mother who, during my childhood with a lullaby, made the whole world fit into a street... the street we live in
If this street were mine: planting seeds for documentary photography in the state of Amazonas
Discussions about Photography in Manaus (the capital of the State of Amazonas and the seventh most populous city in Brazil) began just a few years ago with the introduction of photo clubs and a few some short time projects. However, there is still a long way to go in this area: the professionals are still poorly recognized, only few productions have reached audience, there are no publications related to that. Also, in terms of education, Photography in Manaus still has to be developed: the only photography schools or courses in this region are still devoted to the teaching of equipment handling and basics such as the rule of thirds and position of the horizon line in a photograph. With an overview of these, it is possible to realize that that while commercial photography grows in Manaus (which corresponds to 60 percent of the whole population of the State of Amazonas), the authoral work and documentation of the city is still insignificant. In a search for images of Manaus, there can be only found the city’s sights, like Teatro Amazonas, natural beauties, such as the meeting of the waters of the rivers Solimoes and Negro, and images of fauna and flora. This explains why people from other regions in Brazil only see Manaus as a small town, isolated and populated only by indigenous people and residents of flooded areas. Therefore, it is necessary a real and thorough documentation of the city in its various aspects: social, economic, cultural and anthropological. Manaus is a city of contrasts, a metropolis in transformation that goes through an economic boom. And Photography can contribute in showing this. With this project named “If this street were mine�, there is the intention to deploy a new way of documenting the city. A form based on historical research. The idea is to organize photography workshops in various areas of the city and ask each participant to document the
street where he/she lives in during the course. These workshops also address technical principles, but it is mainly devoted to issues related to documentary photography, photo research and editing. Thus, at the end of each workshop, instead of having just a touristic vision of the city, there will a good variety of images showing Manaus as its citizens see it. The product obtained in the courses can generate exhibitions, catalogs from different areas of the city, books, multimedia works, among others. Although it is important for the city documentation, the most important part of the project is the educational aspect it bears. This can be a new start for Photography in Manaus, where people will start using Photography as research methods. Certainly, this collective project will unfold in a variety of other projects (that can be personal, collective, educational, photographic, multimedia or any other kind) always based in research. To present the project, a documentary about Emílio Moreira street, where I live in, is being produced. I have been documenting this street for half an year. Also, a video called “If this were my street” (5:28 long) was made. The objective is to make an exhibition in a public space of both the video and also the photos to launch the educational project. The link for the video is: https://vimeo.com/61074350 All the photographs were also published at: http://www.photoraphaelalves.com/#!se-essa-rua-fosse-minha/ciyd
“The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would not be to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes�
(Marcel Proust, in Remembrance of Things Past - vol. 5)