The exhibition Perto do rio tenho sete anos (“Near the river I’m seven years old”) is a journey into the heart of the Pantanal ecoregion in the Amazonian state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
It was in these flooded lands that the great Brazilian poet, Manoel de Barros, 97, drew inspiration for his work. His poetry is a tribute to the beauty of the nature that had always surrounded the Cuiabá native. These poems in turn inspired the photographer André Gardenberg, who decided to travel the bends of this watery region in western Brazil. Day after day, sometimes without stopping, he photographed the fauna and flora, captivated by its diversity. “I chose the title for the beauty one feels in speaking on hearing those words. The river travels and we travel along with it. What he says, and how it makes us feel, touched me.” Gardenberg has attempted to translate the world of de Barros’s poems into images. “The simplicity of his poetry delights me. He sees the beauty of the things and transforms what he sees or imagines into words, with a moving sensitivity.”
“Gardenberg’s series is a photographic excerpt inserted into the poetry of one of the most important thinkers in Brazilian literature,” says exhibition curator Diogenes Moura. “The poetry of Manoel de Barros, like the photography of André Gardenberg, enters into dialogue with the simple things in life. The challenge is this: seeing the immensity of life when it is made from very simple things.” The exhibition, on display through December 22nd, features 45 large-format photographs accompanied by recordings of Manoel de Barros poems read by the actor Pedro Paulo Rangel.
EXHIBITION
André Gardenberg, Perto do rio tenho sete anos
Through December 22nd, 2014
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil – Rio de Janeiro
Rua Primeiro de Março, 66 – Rio de Janeiro
From Wednesday to Monday, 9am-9pm
Free entrance
http://culturabancodobrasil.com.br
[email protected]
NEXT SHOW
From May 1st to June 23rd, 2015
Museu da Imagem e do Som – São Paulo
Avenida Europa, 158, Jardim Europa, São Paulo
From Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00 to 9pm, Sundays 11am – 8pm
http://www.mis-sp.org.br
