Aperture #215
Speaking the Language of Photography
Summer 2014
The summer 2014 issue of Aperture focuses on the dynamic photography scene in South America’s art capital, São Paulo. Aperture‘s editors worked onsite in São Paulo with guest editor Thyago Nogueira, head of the Contemporary Photography Department at Instituto Moreira Salles, one of Brazil’s leading cultural institutions. The issue showcases a rich cross section of both historical and contemporary photography, reflecting curatorial and research activity taking place today, with a broad embrace, from the inception of photography in the early 19th century to the most exciting contemporary figures. In between are key touchstones: the postwar avant-garde photo clubs, the photo-conceptualists of the 1970s, art and photojournalism during the repressive dictatorship years, and the recent rise of politically engaged, new-media-savvy photography collectives who engage questions of inequality in Brazil’s booming economy. The issue offers a fresh take on São Paulo’s exceptional photographic culture, reflecting the energy, diversity, and history of the city itself.
WORDS—The sharpest ideas in photography
Sérgio Burgi considers the role of São Paulo in narratives of Brazilian photography; Natalia Brizuela introduces Hercule Florence, Brazil’s inventor of photography; Ronaldo Entler outlines five politically engaged photography collectives; Cassiano Elek Machado considers how São Paulo has been explored through photobooks; and Silas Martí looks at the growing list of the city’s forward-thinking alternative art spaces.
PICTURES—The magazine’s visual showcase
The magazine’s portfolio section presents Christopher Phillips on Caio Reisewitz‘s tropical modernism; Heloísa Espada on Geraldo de Barros‘s experimental photography; Agnaldo Farias on Bárbara Wagner‘s documentation of Afro-Brazilian performance groups; Tobi Maier introduces conceptual artist Hudinilson Urbano Jr.; Rodrigo Moura on Mauro Restiffe‘s photographs of Oscar Niemeyer’s funeral in Brasília; Ana Maria Maia on Jonathas de Andrade‘s reanimation of Paulo Freire’s 1960s literacy project; Sarah Hermanson Meister on Regina Silveira‘s enigmatic 1970s photograms; a portfolio of recent work from emerging photographer Sofia Borges; and an interview with octogenarian Claudia Andujar, one of Brazil’s most important photographers.
COLUMNS:
What Matters Now?
Contributions by documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman; artist and media theorist Marisa Olson; Pete Brook, editor of prisonphotography.org and columnist at Wired; and artist Roni Horn
Redux
Geoff Dyer on D. H. Lawrence‘s “Art and Morality”
Collectors: The Magazine Editors
Negar Azimi, Bidoun
Tony Chambers, Wallpaper*
Penny Martin, The Gentlewoman
Stefano Tonchi, W
Josh Tyrangiel, Bloomberg Businessweek
Studio Visit
Jonathan Griffin with Thomas Demand in Los Angeles
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