Since August 19—the World Photography Day—the Rio Art Museum (MAR) has been displaying nearly 250 photographs from its collections in an exhibition nicely titled Feito Poeira ao Vento—Like Dust in the Wind.
112 artists, for the most part Brazilian, are featured in an exhibition that covers a vast period in the history of photography, since it brings together recent photography as well as prints dating to the nineteenth century. It is worth recalling that photography arrived in Brazil very early, namely with the experiments of the Brazilian Hercule Florence, one of the world pioneers of photography, as well as thanks to the efforts of Don Pedro II, the Emperor of Brazil in the 1840s, who was a photography enthusiast and worked using daguerreotypes.
Among the classics of Brazilian photography, we encounter images by Marc Ferrez, who photographed Rio de Janeiro in the late nineteenth century; modernists like Pierre Verger and Marcel Gautherot; as well as more conceptual, contemporary photography represented by the works of Jonathan de Andrade and Paulo Nazareth, to name a few. Themes important to the MAR are addressed by sets of photographs authored by different artists and spread out in time; these include issues such as the condition of indigenous peoples in Brazil. Works by major international figures punctuate this panorama of nearly exclusively Brazilian photography, and viewers can admire prints by Berenice Abbott, Andy Warhol, and Man Ray.
Feito Poeira ao Vento demonstrates the porosity between photography and other arts by juxtaposing framed photographs and videos, testimonies, performances, publications, and installations. The curator, Evandro Salles, wanted the exhibition to reflect the plurality and multiplicity of works held in the MAR collections, which further reflects the multitude of forms adopted by photography.
Elsa Leydier
Elsa Leydier is a photographer and writer specializing in photography. She divides her time between Lyon and Rio de Janeiro.
Feito Poeira Ao Vento
Until July 1, 2018
Museu de Arte do Rio
Praça Mauá, 5
Centro Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
