Groupshot: Introduction by Ronaldo Entler

The following feature first appeared in Aperture magazine #215 Summer 2014. Subscribe here to read it first, in print or online.

 

Photography collectives with diverse styles and philosophies are transforming São Paulo’s media landscape through their documentation of last year’s massive street protests and by exploring everyday life in the megalopolis.

Photograph by Rafael Mattar of Selva SP. © Rafael Mattar/SelvaSP

In June 2013, mass demonstrations rocked Brazil. Protests against bus fare hikes, organized by the Movimento Passe Livre (Free Fare Movement), gained swift momentum, moving from one city to the next, absorbing other causes and attracting international attention. The demonstrations also triggered a media war. On one side, news reports highlighted scenes of protesters engaged in acts of vandalism. On the other, protesters captured excessive police violence. During this time, photography collectives played a key role, recording and supporting the protests. While the work of these groups, whose numbers have steadily grown over the past ten years, is hardly isolated to instances of political demonstrations, this particular moment of upheaval exemplified the collaborative impulse that fuels them.

Brazilian photography collectives are forging alternatives to image banks and news agencies. Even when their style veers toward photojournalism, or even commercial advertising, photography collectives’ projects assume the form of social or political engagement. Generally made up of young photographers, they embrace social media and online networks and have little interest in traditional models based on solitary authorship. The phenomenon is hardly unique to Brazil. Marked by their own aesthetic decisions and approaches, many such groups have formed across the globe, often united by specific collaborative projects. Such is the case with Blank Paper and Pandora (Spain), Kameraphoto (Portugal), Luceo (United States), Mondaphoto (Mexico), and Supayfotos (Peru). There are, however, certain historical precedents specific to Brazil, such as the photo-clubs established in various cities in the mid-twentieth century, or the independent photography agencies that have sprung up since the 1970s—such as Fotocontexto, F4, and Ágil—and cultural initiatives such as Fotoativa, an important educational project founded in Belém do Pará in 1984.

Today’s new collectives encompass a wide range of approaches but share a proclivity toward political confrontation. Their political engagement is reflected in how the groups have sought alternative models for managing and disseminating images and information. By mining social networks, they explore new paths for financial survival and dialogue with curators, critics, and other cultural producers. By banding together, these collectives assert a clear ideological and aesthetic identity and produce projects of great depth while also constructing spaces for the distribution of works not absorbed by the mass media. In some cases, they gain access to the art circuit or publishing and advertising markets, which are attracted by the gritty glamour of a language forged outside the mainstream.

Mapping São Paulo’s collectives is no easy task. Many of these groups meet only sporadically and tend to be short-lived, but what follows is a selection of some of the most important ones recently working in the city. It would be difficult to conceive of these collectives as part of a broader, cohesive movement, or to suppose that the future of photography is necessarily headed in the direction of collective authorship. Many of the groups have been temporary, and others are still too new to assess their impact. Nevertheless, these collectives have demonstrated their power. Restlessness is one of the unique qualities of any group formed by diverse points of view and desires. They have proven that it is possible to reinvent photography during times of crisis.

Part 1 – Groupshot: Cia de Foto

Part 2 – Groupshot: Garapa

Part 3 – Groupshot: FotoProtestoSP

Part 4 – Groupshot: SelvaSP

Part 5 – Groupshot: Mídia Ninja

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Ronaldo Entler, a researcher and photography critic, is a professor at the School of Communication of Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), in São Paulo, where he is also the graduate coordinator of the school’s masters of photography program. Read his introduction to the Groupshot section of the issue here.

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Introduction by Ronaldo Entler appeared first on Aperture Foundation NY.