BRAZIL | SOCIAL | PHOTOGRAPHY: 2011

2011/07/08

Temporal Beauty

This first semester I've been traveling much more than I expected: Argentina (twice), Iguazu Falls, New York City, Uruguay... so, apologies for the long absence here. Since my last post in February I did these trips, went back to Argentina shooting the Northwest area: Salta and Jujuy Provinces, Cataratas do Iguaçu in the Brazilian South, classic icons of South America. It was a new assignment for the Sunday Times Travel Magazine this year, an amazing road trip, and they has just published this Argentina feature named "Tango for Two". You can check it out in the lastest July issue.

These tear sheets above were featured a few months ago inside the NATURA Magazine, previously designed for the printed magazine, and launched for IPad (March/April, 2011). I'm not quite sure if it was publish exactly like I'm showing here (surprisedly, after hard trying to get a pdf from the essay, I still couldn't get from the publishers the final version. According them, due server troubles.)
But well, this was the approved layout, so, I believe (and expect) it should looks like that.

These photos are a piece of an essay I started to shoot years ago and had never finished. Some of you might remember those pictures displayed at my Flickr's page.
Images of women & advertisement have always called my attention, usually producing an avalanche of questionaries, thoughts and feelings. For me it's about time, patterns, sensuality, decadence, abandone, consume, pressure, scars. But these specific bilboards were shot in the Brazilian countryside, at the BR-163 and towns nearby the frontier of Mato Grosso and Pará States, while I was traveling for an NGO on a research/ reportage about sexual exploitation of children and teenagers on the roads.

Old bilboards whispered in my ears all the journey. I couldn't silence them.

2011/02/15

Paris: Photo Exhibiton - No to discrimation in education

Three of my pictures are showed in this collective exhibition,
and the opening is today (Feb 15th), at the UNESCO Headquarters.
Come to visit if you are in Paris!

> captions for these images are at the photo links.

Exhibition illustrates plurality in education from
a Latin American and Caribbean view

by CLADE

Giving visibility to the issue of discrimination in education is key to overcome this harsh reality. This is the core objective of the photography exhibition No to discrimination in education! Views from Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be presented at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, from 15th to 21st February, 2011.
The exhibition will move to the Novotel Tour Eiffel on the 22nd, commemorating the 4th General Assembly of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), an event that will gather more than 150 activists working towards the right to education all over the world.

The exhibition, featuring 34 photographs taken by various artists, is an initiative of the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE). This roving exhibition was already presented in Sao Paulo, Brazil (May 2010), and in Buenos Aires, Argentina (September 2010).

“The photographs show scenes of daily school life in different corners of Latin America and the Caribbean, giving visibility to the reality of these groups and people who are systematically discriminated within and without the education system. This way, while celebrating difference, the exhibition also aims to point out the still remaining challenges a decade after the signature of the Education for All commitments in Dakar, so that the right to education can become real for all people”, says Camilla Croso, General Coordinator of CLADE.

This exhibition captures the realization of the right to education of indigenous and African-descendant populations, of persons with disabilities, of persons deprived of freedom, of girls and women, of early childhood and young people and adults, as well as education in contexts of displacement and in rural and peripheral urban areas. The exhibition also highlights the situation in Haiti, a country ravaged by an earthquake in January 2010."

Information:
Photography Exhibition:
No to discrimination in education! Views from Latin America and the Caribbean
Date and Venue:
February 15-21, 2011, UNESCO Headquarters. 7 Place de Fontenoy, Paris VIIème, Paris.
February 22-27, 2011, Novotel Tour Eiffel. 61 Quai de Grenelle, Paris.

2011/02/11

tear sheets

The End of Violence

First image is from the World Pulse Magazine (Global Issues Trough the Eyes of Women), that had just arrived at home. So well printed and beautiful, this winter/spring issue is entitle Embody.

The picture was done at Caracas, during the World Social Forum open march, a few years ago, a group marching for women rights and against violence. Bellow, the original image without crop.

"Women who are victims of various kinds of gender-related violence and discrimination will testify at a 'world tribunal', as part of the Latin American phase of the VI World Social Forum, in Caracas."

Southern Exposure

A photo taken on board a passenger boat on the Upper Rio Negro, at Amazonas state, illustrates the latest issue of New Internationalist magazine, a British publication with focus on issues related to global justice, sustainability, poverty, social responsibility and social inequality.

The column Southern Exposure highlights artists and photographers from the majority world. It's the fourth contribution I did with the magazine's column (previous can be seen at this link). On this issue I wrote about the natural cycles of the region and their importance for the communities living along the curse, the balance of the resources offered by the river and the jungle.

2011/02/02

Back to the point: Belo Monte Dam

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

> Yawalapiti warriors live along the Xingu River, at the Xingu Park. I photographed them during the Indigenous National Festival.

While watching the bad day that people, photographers, journalists had in Cairo today, I was observing the arrogance of Muraback's govern and feeling shocked with all the violence. At the same time, I needed to write again about another trouble in another govern, that in a way, is also showing arrogance and total disrespect from it's people: Brazil and the way the Belo Monte Dam have been conduced.

A recent partial license grant given by an interim president of IBAMA (Brazilian Institute for Environment and Natural Renewable Resources), allowed the construction camps and site of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte in the Xingu River, at Para State - and has generated a series of reactions against the decision at the media. Federal prosecutors had recommended to IBAMA to not fragment the licensing to speed up the process because the requirements for the previous license had not been completed. A partial license (which should be part of a full license) does not exist in Brazilian environmental legislation.
Not enough, the Federal Public Ministry estimates the number of people affected to be about 40,000 - including traditional and indigenous populations!

Also a controversial fact was the departure of then President of IBAMA, Aberlardo Bayma, on January 12. Bayma justified the resignation saying that his decision was motivated by "personal reasons". However, rumors on the media tell that in recent meetings with Eletronorte, Bayma refused to grant the dam's final construction license, arguing that IBAMA could not grant the document since the project is full of environmental disputes.
Belo Monte's socio-environmental viability is also considered the reason for former Environmental Minister (and candidate in the 2010 presidential elections) Marina Silva stepping out of office in 2008.
Well, there are a lot of new information going on media and social media every day, showing many irregularities, economics doubts, and some institutional explanations. A quick research on the web will add much more to this issue.

Meanwhile, many organizations, social movements, indigenous people, activists, anthropologists, economists, journalists, environmentalists, judges... and many like me, have been alerting and questioning if this dam is really needed, and what are the real costs of this project (economic, human and environmental). The answer is still a mystery. Too many doubts to put so many and so much in risk.

Enough from today! With all I've seen, one thing must be said: Muraback won't be forgot by the history for his choices and acts. The same will happen with the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil.

Mobilizations and online petition

Amigos da Terra, Amazonia.org.br, Amazon Watch, AVAAZ.org, Greenpeace, Instituto Akatu, Instituto Sociambiental, International Conservation, International Rivers, Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre, and other organizations, have been incisive on their position against the continuity of the project in the way it's being developed. Some of them started campaigns.

On Twitter, mostly of them are spreading the rashtag #parebelomonte and #belomontenao to protest and call attention for the issue. Some tweets are sharing petitions to be signed.

Avaaz launched a large petition, you can sign here.
"President Dilma promised in her inauguration speech to develop Brazil without damaging the environment. But the Belo Monte dam would be the opposite -- a massive environmental scar in the heart of the Amazon."

Save the Xingu River says, and can be signed here.
"It would divert the flow of the Xingu River and devastate an extensive area of the Brazilian rainforest, displace over 20,000 people and threaten the survival of indigenous peoples."

"Now is a crucial time to take action to defend the Xingu River."

Sources: Global Voices , Survival International , Instituto Sociambiental , Ministério Público Federal do Pará , Avaaz , Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre , Miriam Leitão.com

2011/01/09

[ video ] Never late!

Click the photo to watch the video.

***A very special thank you for the followers!

Photo: El Afronte - Orquestra Típica playing at San Telmo street (Humberto 1º, 343), as they usually do on Sundays afternoon.

BRAZIL | SOCIAL | PHOTOGRAPHY