Brazilian Orientalism: photographs of arab types in the Thereza Christina collection

• Grant number: 24/08445-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Photography
• Principal Investigator: Letícia Coelho Squeff
• Grantee: Nina Ingrid Caputo Paschoal
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research discusses 32 photographs titled "types arabes," in carte-de¿visite format, which are part of the Album complet de toutes les principales vues et monuments d'Alexandrie, Caire, Suez, Canal isthme de Suez, basse-Nubie, haute Egypte¿etc-etc-etc, produced by Luigi Fiorillo, an item from the Thereza Christina Collection of the Biblioteca Nacional (RJ). This object was part of the personal collection of Emperor Pedro II, a great enthusiast of the Orient, especially Egypt, where he visited twice (1871 and 1876). In addition to presenting the photographer and expanding the available data on his virtually unknown work, the aim is to examine the role of imperial Brazil in the proliferation and acquisition of Orientalist images, as well as to discuss the concept itself and its application to visual arts. We also seek to situate these photographs within the broader context of visual production linked to 19th-century travel, including tourism, which brought new light to collecting practices. In this regard, the connection between photography and racial representation in the context of natural sciences, as well as their relations to colonialism and expeditions, will be addressed. To this end, we will draw on a vast visual and documentary repertoire that problematizes racialized regimes of representation, in which the 32 photographs are embedded. Finally, we will seek to discuss the symbolic relations and circulation of models between Brazil and Egypt, with Pedro II as a catalyzing figure, including how the orientalist repertoire and images presented contributed to the construction of a national identity ideology.