The Latin American Photography Forum is held every three years in São Paulo. The fourth event of its kind has just come to an end and brought together some of the leading figures in Latin American photography for four days of debates, exhibitions and workshops. The Brazilian Iata Cannabrava and the Paraguayan Fredi Casco, the event’s directors, invited theorists and artists from across Latin America to talk about the photography that has developed in that part of the world and the related issues. This year’s theme was ‘Photography as Thought’, photography as a critical instrument through which to view the world. On a continent of contradictions that has experienced the culture shocks of conquest and colonisation, plus the emergence of capitalism, it is crucial to discuss images and representation with regard to those experiences.
Ticio Escobar, curator, critic and former culture minister in Paraguay, spoke eloquently about the questions surrounding representation of indigenous populations in Latin America, alongside Itala Schmelz, director of the Centro de la Imagen de México. They evoked the way in which photography can be used conceptually, without falling in to the trap of aestheticisation of the Indian or in to the fantasy of their representation. Their questions echo some of the work presented in the exhibition Arquivo Ex Machina – Identidade e Conflito na América Latina (Archive Ex Machina — identity and conflict in Latin America), which ran alongside the event and will remain on show until early August. This includes photographs shown by Ecuadoran Coco Laso and produced by his great-grandfather in the streets of Quito. At first glance, they look like classic views of the city but look more closely and you see what the photographer has done to the scene. He scratched the negatives then painted over them to subtly remove all natives from the images, as if to deny their presence which was probably neither aesthetic nor desirable when trying to show off the capital in that era.
EXHIBITION
Arquivo Ex Machina – Identidade e Conflito na América Latina
From June 16th to August 7th 2016
Itaú Cultural
Avenida Paulista, 149, São Paulo Brazil
http://www.itaucultural.org.br/programe-se/agenda/evento/exposicao-arquivo-ex-machina-arquivo-
e-identidade-na-america-latina/
