A procession of the centennial kings company “Ases do Brasil” opened, on Tuesday night (28), in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez room, at the Memorial da América Latina, in São Paulo, the photography exhibition “The Faces of the Field: the Poetics of the Encounter of Carlos Rodrigues Brandão” – the anthropologist, educator, writer and professor emeritus of Unicamp, who died in 2023. The exhibition is part of the commemorative events for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the University and presents photography as a powerful instrument of research and documentation.
Organized by the Unicamp Memory Center (CMU), with support from the Consulate General of Mexico, the exhibition brings together approximately 230 photographs produced over decades of field research conducted by Brandão – an intellectual with a significant presence in the field of rural anthropology, with research and writings focused on popular culture and education. The images document rural communities, manifestations of popular religiosity, indigenous peoples, and different ways of life in Brazil and Mexico. The curator is postdoctoral researcher Iara Rolim.
"Selecting the photos was a difficult yet stimulating process," says Rolim. From a collection of over 4 images at the CMU archive, she had to choose around 230. "I had to look at these images many, many times in order to find a narrative thread; after all, we're telling a story," she reflects.
To achieve this, the researcher sought to establish a specific aesthetic bias. “Brandão was always a person connected to poetry and music. He also had a different perspective on photography. So, the idea was that these images would also speak to this other side of him, not just the researcher, but an intellectual with this sensitivity to the world of art,” she explains.
With this in mind, Rolim divided the images into areas and, within each set, composed a universe in which a larger photo indicates the artist's intention. "So, you'll see [in the exhibition] that there's always a larger photo that engages in a dialogue with the smaller photos around it," he reveals.
Brandão's images reflect a way of inhabiting the world. They show the daily life of the countryman, working in the fields or carefully tending to animals, and religious manifestations, such as the Divine Holy Spirit festival in São Luiz do Paraitinga-SP, the Epiphany celebrations in Mossâmedes-GO, or the equestrian games in Pirenópolis-GO.
Brandão married Maria Alice in 1966 and, soon after, with funding from UNESCO, he and his wife traveled to Mexico for studies and training in adult education. For nine months, the couple remained affiliated with the Regional Cooperation Center for Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean in Pátzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán. The photographic collection produced during this period portrays both the daily life of the city and its surroundings, as well as the journeys undertaken through different regions of the country.
According to Hadler, many people are still unaware of Brandão's photographic side. The director of the CMU explains that the photos were donated to the Center by the professor himself. According to her, the images reveal a special perspective of the anthropologist on the lifestyles and work of people in the rural world. "They show the peculiarities of daily life and the manifestations of popular culture," she states.
"Aces of Brazil"
It was already dark when the "Ases do Brasil" folk dance group descended the ramp connecting the two sides of the Memorial. They stopped next to the administration building, where giant photos from the exhibition were projected onto the walls. The group then proceeded to the exhibition. Singing, they asked permission to enter the Gabriel Garcia Marquez room.
“The Ases do Brasil company has existed since 1908. It was founded in Minas Gerais, but today it's located in Barão Geraldo (a district of Campinas). It has never stopped operating,” said the company's ambassador, Sebastião Vitor Rosa, known as Tião Mineiro. A religious man, he says he strongly believes in the power of faith. “Once, we were going to sing at a party, and shortly before the procession, a huge storm formed. I grabbed some coarse salt, said the right words, and the storm moved away,” he recounted. When he's not with the company, he forms a country music duo with his friend José Batista de Oliveira, known as João Mineiro. “For us, it's a great source of pride to be here,” he said.
The opening party was attended by Brandão's family members, including Maria Alice, to whom he was married for 60 years. "This is one of the most emotional moments of my life," she said.
60 years
The general coordinator of Unicamp, Professor Fernando Coelho, reminded everyone that the University will be celebrating its 60th anniversary on October 5th and that the exhibition at the Memorial is one of the most important events of the celebrations.
“I am absolutely certain that a great partnership between the Latin America Memorial and the University of Campinas begins at this moment,” said Coelho. “The Memorial represents the union of Latin American thought, and this conjunction is very well represented at this moment, in this exhibition,” he added.
The president of the Latin American Memorial Foundation, Pedro Mastrobuono, recalled that Unicamp is part of the founding council and "is and will be increasingly present in this journey." According to him, "an exhibition of this magnitude, with this quality" cannot remain open for only one month (the scheduled closing date is August 28). "Because of this, I make a commitment to my colleagues and professors at Unicamp that the exhibition that has just begun cannot remain open for only 30 days. It will stay here for three months, four months, five months; for as long as Unicamp wants," he said.
The opening of the exhibition was also attended by the deputy consul of the Consulate General of Mexico in São Paulo, José Alberto Limas Gutiérrez, and the director of the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp, Professor Ronaldo Rômulo Machado de Almeida.
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Exhibition celebrates the career of anthropologist Carlos Rodrigues Brandão.
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