An interview with Fernando Costa Netto, founding member of Doc Galeria, which organizes the festival.
What is the relationship between the Doc Galerie and the festival?
Mônica Maia and I opened the Doc Galerie a year and a half ago. It’s a gallery devoted to documentary photography, the kind that tells story and changes the course of things when told well. That’s where Mônica and I are coming from. Outside of the gallery, we develop and create projects related to photography. That’s where the festival comes in. It’s one of the projects led by our small team.
This year the SP Photofest is celebrating its 5th anniversary. Tell us about its history.
The Mostra SP de Fotografia was created in 2009 to celebrate the photography of São Paulo on its anniversary. At the time, it was a little exhibition held in a bar where 60 photographers presented a kaleidoscopic image of the city. The event was very well received. The second edition of the festival looked more like it does today. It moved to the Vila Madalena and took over the neighborhood. This is the only project of its kind in Brazil. Galleries, shops, bars, walls and restaurants host exhibitions. Today there are nearly 40 solo and group exhibitions with over 160 photographers participating, along with eleven streets and six events outside the festival. The festival lasts an entire month. It’s the largest photo exhibition in São Paulo. We are documenting the history of the city while making photography accessible to millions of people.
How was this edition of the festival put together?
The fifth edition, like all previous editions, is devoted entirely to São Paulo. Five of the 40 exhibitions came from a call posted on Alexandre Belém’s blog Olhavê, which I think is the most important Brazilian photography blog. Belém is one of the festival curators. All the other works were reviewed during the year, along with the other events: the opening of the São Paulo photo academy, the discussion series, the photo rally, the outdoors projections, the exhibition/screening commemorating the 50th anniversary of the military coup. This year is special for its workshop with Magnum. It’s the first time Magnum has visited Brazil since 1947.
The festival features the work of classic photographers like Claudia Guimarães, Carlos Moreira, Bubby Costa, André Vieira, and others I wasn’t familiar with but who have been very consistent in their work, like Leandro Gianotti and Julieta Benoit.
DOC Galeria
Rua Aspicuelta, 662, Vila Madalena
São Paulo – Brésil
Du lundi au vendredi de 11 h à 13 h et de 14 h à 19 h.
http://docgaleria.com.br/
