Arianne's diary: November 2010

I was fascinated from the very moment that I set foot in the Port of Tabatinga in the Brazilian Amazon. The landscape is unexpectedly strange; the port is surrounded by a vast wasteland of mud as far as the eye can see. Some studies confirm that the level of the Amazon River has not been this low in the past hundred years. These dry conditions have created many problems for the port workers and for the inhabitants of the area. Scientists have postulated various theories to explain the possible causes of this worrisome drought, but none can pinpoint the cause with certainty since the factors contributing to the climatic stability of the region are varied and complex.

The port constitutes a hub in the heart of Amazonia; its bustling economy attracts a multitude of people hailing from a variety of locations. Hard labour, misery and festivity jostle together in the suffocating humidity and 45-degree heat. Amongst the crowds of people can be found a large number of illegal workers from Colombia.

A lanky man sporting a typically Colombian hat attracted my attention. He ambled about timidly, trying unenthusiastically to sell the few flowers he held in his hand. He confessed to me later that he regularly steals the flowers that provide him with his livelihood from the Tabatinga cemetery.

As we talked, I was astonished to learn that he was highly cultivated and I was fascinated by this ambiguous and contradictory character. He told me about his voyages through Latin America and confided that he had lived illegally for four years in New York before returning to his homeland in Medellin, Colombia.

To escape the paramilitary who had ordered his execution, Para was forced four years ago to leave his ranch in Medellin. Born into a wealthy family, with whom he is now estranged, he has chosen to live far removed from “the greed, ambition, rivalry and vanity of that world” and has exiled himself in Amazonia where Para is waiting for the Colombian government to grant him a small piece of land promised to him as part of an aid program for war victims.

Weighed down by depression, alcoholism and crack addiction, Para expects nothing from life other than a small patch of land where he can “build himself a humble cabin, read Baudelaire and garden”. While waiting for state assistance, which for bureaucratic reasons has already been delayed by several years, Para sleeps on the pavement, in abandoned shacks or in the homes of people who take pity on him.

I’ve regularly spent time with Para over several months and his eccentricity, his gentleness, his generosity, sincerity, intelligence, solitude and sorrow continue to amaze me. We did most of the photography shoots in the port of Tabatinga and in the cemetery where Para goes to pick flowers, relax and smoke drugs.

Throughout this project, I have tried to express the feelings and impressions that Para and his environment have produced in me. As a result of my desire to widen my field of exploration and to discover my own artistic language, I did a lot of technical research and tried to let intuition, serendipity, and the medium of photography express themselves. I photographed lights, hues and people, without necessarily trying to give my images any documentary value. I took some images without looking through the view finder and others, without adjusting the focus on my camera. I also used pieces of garbage that I found on the ground, such as transparent plastic bags and plastic wrap and used them as improvised filters that I placed over my lens in order to create different textures.

I used sentences in a letter that Para wrote to me as captions for the photos, hoping that his words would provide a better understanding of his character and of the social and political context surrounding him, while broadening the possible interpretations of the photos. I believe that the poetic and nostalgic views expressed by my subject blend well with my own style of photography.

The research that I embarked upon has forced me to reflect on the nature of photography, not only as a form of documentation but also as a means of expression. As a result, Las Flores de la Desgracia invites the spectator to lose himself in his imagination somewhere in an impressionist world where feelings prevail over objectivity.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Unlearn Photography

Through this work, I tried to push back my own boundaries in order to explore new avenues. I was the first to be surprised by several of my own photographs. When taking photographs, we can easily avoid making mistakes and create attractive pictures. Instead, why not try to make mistakes to see where it leads us? Why not let the medium of photography express itself without intervention?

Darryl Rose, a friend of mine commented on my blog and wrote in an email : “ It’s amusing that you’ve spent so many years learning the art of photography to reach a point where you’re trying to unlearn it. You’re trying to take it all in from a child’s perspective, with no preconceived notions, but then applying the knowledge you’ve learned. Your skill in "taking a good picture" is so strong. Now it’s concerned much more with the ideas and philosophies pertaining to it, which in the end can never be right or wrong and will always be changing with flow. ”

I very much liked his expression “unlearn photography”. Through the last few projects that I completed for the Academy, I have in fact “unlearned” what I first have been taught.

I am aware that my photos are not exceptional; the art milieu has, for over a century, been exploring similar avenues where expression, deconstruction and concepts dominate over objectivity. The research that I undertook is far from revolutionary, but it is important with respect to my own personal development; it has pushed my own limits, forced me to reflect on the nature of photography, not only as a form of documentation but also of expression as a means, demanding that I present a point of view.

I envisage a very traditional exhibition with large format prints placed on the walls along with the text of my presentation. I thought about the option of showing my work in a multimedia format, but I could not in any way justify the use of multimedia to present this project. I believe that the photos in and of themselves portray ample information and inquiry and that it would serve no purpose to dilute their messages.

Colombian Paramilitary Groups

The armed conflict in Colombia began in the 1960s with the creation of various Marxist guerilla groups. Over time, these guerillas have succeeded in acquiring a significant amount of military power, mobilizing thousands of fighters in their battle against imperialism. It is well know that Colombian guerillas have been financed with the help of drug trafficking, extortion, kidnappings, the imposition of revenue taxes on the inhabitants of various regions, and by expropriating lands owned by peasants. These actions have earned Colombian guerilla groups a bad reputation. They have coerced peasants and some of the most vulnerable indigenous peoples in Colombia to join forces with them, compelling thousands of Colombian citizens to seek refuge in protected regions. Even today, despite being unpopular in Colombia and the world over, these guerillas continue to maintain power over a few areas of Colombia where they benefit from a certain amount of support from the population. It is also believed that these guerillas may be the recipients of international financial backing from certain leftist governments such as those of Venezuela and Ecuador.

The 1980s gave rise to paramilitary groups created to fight against the guerillas that the State was unable to defeat. These paramilitary groups not only lashed out against the guerillas, but also against ordinary Colombian citizens; they massacred entire villages whose inhabitants had been accused of siding with the guerillas. In the case of the Mapiripán massacre that occurred in July 1997, the complicity of the national army was recognized by the Colombian courts and by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Colombian State is suspected of having supported the paramilitary groups in many other criminal acts as well. The financial strategies used by the paramilitary groups have proved to be the same as those used by the guerillas: drug trafficking, extortion, kidnappings, imposition of revenue taxation and expropriation of peasant owned lands.

Even though the paramilitary groups were officially demobilized in 2006, they did not surrender their arms. Between 5,000 and 8,000 fighters are said to have taken up their activities again within approximately 20 paramilitary groups. Among the most feared, the “Black Eagles” continue their reign of terror. Since the end of 2006, this commando group has stepped up its intimidation as well as violence perpetrated against Colombian citizens and against those from other regions.

Drought

With an area spanning almost 6 million square kilometers, the Amazonian rainforest is a vast region spread out over nine countries, the largest of which is Brazil. This region contains approximately one fifth of the total species on earth, with over 10,000 species of trees. Each year, the Amazon rainforest processes 18 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, or approximately three times the amount of fossil fuel emissions produced in the world. On the other hand, the processes of tree respiration and the decomposition of organic materials in the soils result in the release of an almost equivalent amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The drought that is currently ravaging Amazonia has led to a series of devastating consequences for the communities in this region. Numerous tributaries of the Amazon River have completely dried up, causing the destruction of biodiversity in the area and the loss of a mode of commercial transportation of goods. In several regions, the customary delivery of food and medical supplies on these waterways has been disrupted, which could lead to an increased risk of epidemics and famine.

In Brazil, the dry season typically occurs during the months of September and October. This year, the dry season began in the month of August and has extended into November. Scientists have postulated various theories to explain the possible causes of this worrisome drought, but none can pinpoint the cause with certainty since the factors that contribute to the region’s climatic stability are varied and complex. Some cite the source of the problem as the heating up of the oceans’ surfaces and the massive deforestation that has occurred in the Amazonian rainforests. Others claim that selective and clear cut logging have reduced rainforest density, decreasing its ability to retain moisture. This circumstance may have also led to the damaging fires that occurred in the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon.

The increase in tree mortality due to drought has tended to reduce the rate of carbon dioxide absorption, and to increase the release of carbon dioxide. This is transforming the role of the Amazonian rainforest from that of a carbon “sink” to that of a carbon “source” for the atmosphere.

Para 2

After giving a lot of thought to the direction in which I wanted take my photography, I finally decided to focus my work specifically on Para and to make him the central figure in my final project. Para is not the most photogenic person that I have met in the Port of Tabatinga, but he is by far the most fascinating, the most ambiguous, and the most contradictory. It is a considerable challenge to subtly depict such a complex character with whom I also have a close personal relationship. His poetic and nostalgic views blend well with my style of photography, giving me the impetus to integrate his poetry and reflections with my work.

find that Para’s life is both dramatic and compelling, simultaneously personal and sociopolitical. I have lived for almost one year in Colombia and have witnessed just how much Columbian society has been paralyzed by the never ending war that is has been involved with for many decades. Just as drought has been ravaging Amazonia during the entire length of my work here, the political situation in Colombia is not the subject of my work, but it inevitably forms the backdrop for it. Many Colombians who are victims of war have found refuge in Leticia, an Amazonian town located on the border between Brazil and Peru. However, the absence of social services, adequate infrastructure and employment in Leticia often induces them to move on to Brazil.

Para and I did several photo shoots together, both in the Port of Tabatinga and in the cemetery where Para often goes to get flowers, relax and smoke drugs. During one of the shoots in the cemetery, he was inspired to pose for a nude figure session. He had always wanted to do this back in New York with his artist friends but had never had the opportunity to do so. Para thought that doing a nude figure session in the cemetery could be funny and provocative while raising some interesting political and religious questions. I did my best to take artistic, respectful photographs to portray wh at he wanted to express: derision, sensitivity, eccentricity and humour.