Photographs and trajectories: Claudia Andujar, Lux Vidal and Maureen Bisilliat

• Grant number: 18/21140-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: February 01, 2019 - January 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Indigenous Ethnology
• Principal Investigator: Sylvia Caiuby Novaes
• Grantee: Sylvia Caiuby Novaes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Fabiana Bruno ; João Luiz Musa
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/19680-8 - Photographs and trajectories: Claudia Andujar, Lux Vidal and Maureen Bisilliat, BP.TT

Abstract

Through a shared anthropology with Claudia Andujar, Lux Vidal and Maureen Bisilliat, the goal is to investigate their trajectories through their photographs. Starting from the numerous affinities between them, we want to put in dialogue their photographic productions in order to understand forms of production of knowledge about different aspects of the indigenous realities they photographed: the daily life in an indigenous village, body painting, aesthetic standards, shamanism, the contact and its consequences, among others.An unfolding part of this project is to approach the relationship between photography and memory, here thought as creation and even invention, something that shuffles temporalities and reminds us of the activities of the bricoleur, who creates through pasting remains of memories. Photographs are devices that allow us to think of trajectories that go beyond the dichotomies between subjective and objective, fact and memory, especially in a shared anthropology, in which the experience can be translated into narrative.Other research projects focused on different aspects of the photographic production of Claudia, Lux and Maureen are articulated to this one and briefly presented here. Kelly Koide in her post doc proposal aims to investigate the artistic influences and cultural context of the period of formation of Claudia and Maureen, especially in the USA in the years 1940-1950, as well as the characterization of the sociocultural and political context of the period in which these artists arrived in Brazil and began their photographic productions, with special attention to the relations between photography and contemporary Brazilian art. The IC research proposed by Laila Zilber Kontic seeks to analyse the relationship between Claudia Andujar and the Yanomami Indians, through photographs of shamanistic rituals. These photographs have aesthetic characteristics that allow the apprehension of the complexity of Yanomami values and beliefs, which are also part of shamanism.The IC research proposed by Mariana Flora Baumgaertner aims to investigate about 360 figurative drawings collected by Lux Vidal in her research among the Kayapó-Xikrin. The proposal is to investigate the context of the production of the drawings, as they are inserted in a certain Xikrin aesthetic and to understand how they relate to different visual supports. To do so, it will be necessary to discuss the notions of beauty, body and image, relating them to the context of the institutional collections and to the production of Lux Vidal herself.Fabiana Bruno, a researcher associated with this project, invests in the proposal of anthropological investigation of the photographic production of Claudia Andujar, Lux Vidal and Maureen Bisilliat as an opportunity to contribute to a reflection on the "survival of images" (Warburg 2010) in a construction shared with the authors, who lived the same historical time and dedicated themselves, each in their own way, to "register" and "make resist" indigenous societies in the country.This project also incorporates researches more focused on the technical aspects of photography. Isabella Finholdt proposes an IC research aimed at investigating, through a photographic approach in the field of image reproduction, the negatives, positives and photographic copies made by Lux Vidal. Finally, the project of the associate researcher, João Luis Musa seeks to research, reflect and decide on the transcriptions and operations that occur in the language of the images of analog photographic collections when remade by contemporary digital media; how to decide for a translation between these two means of different technologies that transform the original information making clear the principles adopted. What is the best way to consistently reproduce, digitize and transcribe a photographic collection and make it accessible through professional digital reproductions and ISO standard prints / copies. (AU)