Train to the future

 

Train to the future

BY KRISTINA SERGEEVA


Norilsk is the northernmost city in the world with a population of over 150,000. An artificially created industrial city during Stalin's repressions, Norilsk is popular for its various mineral resources and large mining operations. Norilsk is associated with permafrost, lack of light, depressing landscapes and a grim history.

I went on a photographic expedition to Norilsk with the aim of reflecting the identity of contemporary Russia through the mythologization of ruinized spaces. Train to the future is a journey into a future that has already arrived.

I see Norilsk as a place where the sense of time has been lost. As in all of Russia, the war has suspended the present. I am trying to find a suitable metaphor for the new time, the thin line between past and future. Wandering around the city, I imagine myself as a discoverer of a new land that is no longer with me. During the creation of the project, I was inspired by the stories of eyewitnesses about the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Kristina Sergeeva (1996) is a visual artist from St. Petersburg, Russia. She uses photography, book and print forms in her artistic practice. The field of study in Kristina's projects revolves around the exploration of themes of collective and individual memory and personal perception of the contemporary Russian context. In her work she focuses on reworking and making sense of history, searching for national identity through observation and exploration of the landscape of post-soviet space.

Website
https://kristina-sergeeva.ru

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/_tinaserg/

 

Caveat

 

Caveat

BY ANDREA MARTINO


Caveat: a Latin word that sounds like a warning, “beware”. It is the title of a photographic series that explores the caves of Vallone di San Rocco in Naples, a hidden and endangered treasure, a challenge for the eye and the memory. The caves are ancient cavities dug in the yellow tuff, the volcanic material that formed after an eruption of the Campi Flegrei about 12,000 years ago. From these caves Naples grew, which used the tuff for its constructions, but which also gave the caves other uses: shelter, workplace, storage, landfill. Today these caves are covered by an urban jungle that hosts an extraordinary biodiversity, but that leaves an open wound in the rock and in history. The photographic series tries to return a historical and formal “portrait” of these caves, showing their architectural, landscape, environmental, social value. The Caves of Vallone present themselves as urban rooms, where space is a void, where air is closed by matter that traces its boundary. A system that has its own logic, its own geometry, its own aesthetics, but that has remained invisible and inaccessible for a long time, and that now proposes itself to discovery and enhancement. This investigation aims to demonstrate that these quarries are an integral part of Naples’ history and culture, but they are also at risk of degradation and oblivion. The quarries are a dormant giant waiting to be awakened with care and respect, not only as geological heritage but also as a custodian of Neapolitan cultural memory.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Born in Naples in 1996, my hometown shaped my worldview, teaching me to observe space and understand the intricate relationships that are created with it. During my university studies in architecture, I developed a parallel interest in photography, using it as a tool for research and documentation. The photographic language became my main means to explore and narrate what I see through the lens, investigating the physical environment that surrounds us, scrutinizing not only the architectural elements, but also the human relationships that interact with space. Each shot represents an attempt to absorb the atmosphere of the place, allowing the context to suggest its stories. Photography thus becomes a form of visual narration that seeks to capture the essence of places and human connections in a delicate balance between art and documentation.

Website


https://andreamartino.com/

 

On Trial

 

on trial

BY CRISTIAN ORDÓÑEZ


Although only residing in the USA for a short period, Toronto-based Chilean Photographer Cristian Ordóñez has spent a large-period of the previous decade revisiting the lower states creating works that explore the notion of memory, personal relationship, and encounters with the territory.

On Trial observes and plays witness to these encounters, a body of work that presents the social, economic, and geographic survey of the landscape traveled by Ordóñez. A survey, engaging with all things natural and foreign on even ground, seeking to question not only the observer but the role of the object within the frame.

Forthcoming previous published works, Notes 01, 02, and 03, the new chapter continues to visualise his approach and interest in the photographic process as a medium to explore the territory, own cultural diversity, and the connection between place and ethnicity.

Text by Rohan Hutchinson. Editor, acb press

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Cristian Ordóñez is a Chilean photographer based in Toronto. Ordóñez has exhibited his work in multiple group and solo exhibitions in Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Russia, Greece, the United States, and Netherlands. He has also participated in various art fairs in Santiago, Toronto, and Vancouver. Using the medium of photography he collects impressions of the world, gravitating towards the parallels between ideas, memory, and belonging. He observes time and space through human absence and presence, captures natural and urban vestiges, explores the vastness and intimacy of landscape, and focuses on blurring the lines between nature, urban structures, and portraiture. His work has been collected by the National Gallery of Canada, Library & Archives, the National Library of Australia, the State Library of Victoria in Australia, and the San Telmo Museum in Spain.

Website


https://cristianordonez.com/works/on-trial/

Book


https://www.acb-press.com/publications/cristian-ordonez-on-trial-forth-coming

 

Na terra de Jacó

 

Na terra de Jacó

BY BRUNO SAAVEDRA


[Aos 22 dias de abril,] houvemos vista de terra! Primeiramente, dum grande monte, mui alto e redondo.
(…) Ao monte alto, o capitão pôs o nome – Monte Pascoal e à terra, Terra de Vera Cruz.

Carta do Achamento do Brasil, Pêro Vaz de Caminha

A Jacó foi dada a graça do seu nascimento, mas o seu legado foi o da perseverança. A terra do leite do mel, o paraíso perdido, não se alcança sem trabalho árduo, sem exílio, sem viagens de longas distâncias em percursos iniciáticos.
A armada topou com o Jardim do Éden sem querer, diz-se. Em tempo de Páscoa, de renovação, de celebração da aliança com o criador. E o verde-azul paradisíaco era sonho, libertação, reencontro com as origens, reconhecimento da identidade.

Jacó fora escolhido. Ele sabia-o, mas estava consciente do poder da Providência e da lei de Deus. E assim gerou filhos – José e Judá e Benjamim e Levi e… e… E Wilson. E então, em tempo de esperança e de demanda, toda a Terra viu de perto o sol e os tons de amarelo a aclarar o azul e o verde luxuriantes do jardim da madeira incandescente.

Quando Deus viu que a sua obra era boa, descansou. Quem descansaria se assim não fosse? E que fez o homem? E Jacó, e Wilson, filho do homem? Aprendeu a olhar para Deus e viver com Ele? Fez d’Ele seu irmão? Nesta tarefa imensa de observar e aprender, o miúdo fez-se gente de procura. Tornou-se homem a testar perseverança, na busca de sonhos e de verdades, nos sentidos e nos significados que cada imagem (ou fragmento) pareceu querer exprimir.

E foi-lhe dada uma graça: a da visão. Para a ir ganhando, sete anos foi vivendo pelo mundo e mais sete foi servindo a sua arte. Como Jacó. Arduamente. E de Wilson a Wilson, de Silva a Silva, de Silva a Bruno, de Wilson a Saavedra ou, por recomposição, de Silva a Saavedra, de Wilson a Homem. E a terra de Canaã? E a terra de Jacó? Onde ficou essa origem, essa raiz de identidade?

O mundo inicial, de que ficaram sinais, cheiros e cores, memórias de rostos e de expressões, visitado e revisitado na memória, chamou-o. E ele foi Bruno para contar Wilson. Ao encontro do que nunca deixou, de olhos cheios de um amor que não se explica. – Eu fui ver Wilson e o Bruno viu-se nele…

A terra abriu-se como uma flor da manhã, numa luz intensa intrínseca. Captar um raio de luz, como? Nas caras, na terra, nas casas daquela (minha) gente, dir-se-ia. E a história refez-se e, em si mesma, fez história.

Silva, Wilson, o Neto, por Saavedra, Bruno, o mesmo outro. Com amor,
Da terra,
Pela terra,

Na terra de Jacó.

Nuno Verdial Soares
16 de março de 2019

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

BRUNO SAAVEDRA é um fotógrafo e artista visual luso-brasileiro que nasceu em 1987 na cidade de Itamarajú – Bahia no Brasil e reside em Portugal desde 2004.
Aos oito anos, apaixonou-se pela fotografia, indiretamente influenciado pela sua avó materna, que passava os serões mostrando-lhe negativos, monóculos e fotografias antigas de família. 

Desde 2015, trabalha como fotógrafo freelancer e tem exposto os seus trabalhos com frequência por diversos locais do mundo como Portugal, Austrália, Brasil, Macau e África. A fotografia de Bruno Saavedra vai além do documental, conceptual ou até mesmo autoral. É algo quase subliminar, com muita verdade, sentimento e respeito pelo que se fotografa.

Com o passar dos anos, nota-se a sua obsessão por documentar as coisas simples da vida. A identidade, a intimidade, as questões culturais, sociais e a memória coletiva são, por isso, os principais temas dos seus trabalhos.

Parte da sua obra pertence a coleccionadores privados e institucionais.

LINKS


https://brunosaavedra.com

https://www.instagram.com/brunosaavedra.photo/

 

Exibição do filme "1965, Panreal: Um Edifício de Nadir Afonso" na Casa da Arquitectura

 
 
 

Exibição do filme 1965, Panreal: Um Edifício de Nadir Afonso

No próximo dia 24 de setembro ocorrerá, na Casa da Arquitectura, a apresentação do filme 1965, Panreal: Um Edifício de Nadir Afonso. O evento contará com a presença do realizador do documentário, José Paulo Santos, bem como de Laura Afonso (Fundação Nadir Afonso).

A exibição do filme terá início às 18h, seguida de uma conversa entre o autor e a convidada, às 19:20h.

Para participação no evento, é necessária a inscrição através do seguinte email: jpscineasta@gmail.com 

Sinopse
Em 1965 foi construído na cidade de Vila Real em Portugal um edifício modernista pela mão do arquiteto Nadir Afonso. São muitas as memórias vividas numa panificadora que chegou a produzir 80.000 pães por dia.

As entidades competentes viraram as costas à Panreal ao inverso de inúmeros teimosos populares. A condenação e a controvérsia de mãos separadas.

 

You don't look Native to me

 
 

YOU DON’T LOOK NATIVE TO ME

BY MARIA STURM

“You don‘t look Native to me is a quote and the title of a body of work, that shows excerpts from the lives of young Native Americans from around Pembroke, Robeson County, North Carolina, where 89% of the city’s population identifies as Native American. The town is the tribal seat of the Lumbee Indian Tribe of North Carolina, the largest state-recognized Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River, which means they are federally unrecognized and therefore have no reservation nor any monetary benefits.

I am tracing their ways of self-representation, transformed through history, questions of identity with which they are confronted on a daily basis, and their reawakening pride in being Native. The work consists of portraits, along with landscapes and places, interiors, still lives, and situations. The aesthetic framework that is presented offers clues – sometimes subtle, sometimes loud – for imparting a feeling for their everyday lives.

My work engages an unfamiliar mix of concepts: a Native American tribe whose members are ignored by the outside world, who do not wear their otherness on their physique, but who are firm in their identity. Through photography, video and interviews, I am investigating what happens when social and institutional structures break down and people are forced to rely on themselves for their own resources. This raises questions to the viewer regarding one’s own identity and membership to the unspecified mainstream.

This work was started in 2011.”

Maria Sturm

Since 2011, Maria Sturm has photographed teenagers from the Lumbee tribe in and around Pembroke, North Carolina, where almost 90 percent of the population identifies as Native American. Unlike other native tribes, the Lumbee were not forced to move during colonial expansion and have subsequently maintained a strong connection to their land. Sturm’s series You Don’t Look Native to Me considers how young Native people present themselves today in relation to their identity and culture. At first glance, Sturm’s photographs might appear to depict the daily life of a community almost anywhere in America, but elements of hybridity—Halloween fangs on a child in Tuscarora regalia; dreamcatchers and a school portrait on a living room wall—signify the mixing of heritage and contemporary culture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maria Sturm (b. 1985, Romania) received a diploma in Photography from FH Bielefeld in 2012 and a MFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design. She is a Fulbright and DAAD scholar. She has won several prizes including the New York Photo Award 2012 and the DOCfield Dummy Award Barcelona 2015 with the work Be Good.

Her most recent work You don't look Native to me about the unrecognized Lumbee tribe of North Carolina was nominated for Vonovia Award, shortlisted for PhotoLondon La Fabrica Book Dummy Award and made the 2nd place at Unseen Dummy Award. It was published in British Journal of Photography and Filmbulletin and exhibited in the German Consulate New York, Clamp Art New York, Wiesbadener Fototage, Encontros da Imagem, at Artists Unlimited Bielefeld and at Aperture Foundation New York among others.

It will be next shown at Addis Foto Fest and Photo Vogue Festival.

Having met in during a month-long residency at Atelier de Visu Marseille and workshop with Antoine d'Agata in 2012 Cemre Yeşil and Maria Sturm kept in touch ever since. Their permanent exchange led them to start a collaboration and in 2014 they have photographed For Birds' Sake, a work about the Birdmen of Istanbul. This work was published as a photobook by La Fabrica Madrid and featured in Colors Magazine, The Guardian, British Journal of Photography and ZEITmagazin among others. It was exhibited during Internacional de Fotografa de Cabo Verde, FotoIstanbul, Bitume Photofest Lecce, Organ Vida International Photography Festival Zagreb, Format Festival Derby, Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie and at Daire Gallery, Sol Koffler Providence, La Fabrica Madrid, Pavlov's Dog Berlin, Deichtorhallen Hamburg and it was a finalist at PHE OjodePez Award for Human Values 2015 and Renaissance Photography Prize 2017 and nominated for Lead Awards 2016 and Henri-Nannen-Preis 2016. It was also shortlisted at Arles Author Book Award 2016 and Prix Levallois 2017.


instagram: https://instagram.com/maria__sturm/
facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/maria.sturm
twitter: https://twitter.com/maria_sturm