Rosa Gauditano (São Paulo SP 1955)
Photographer.
Between 1974 and 1975, Rosa Jandira Gauditano studied journalism at the Faculdade de Comunicação Social Cásper Líbero in São Paulo. She began photographing professionally in 1977 for the newspaper Versus, and became the paper's photo editor. In the early 1980s, she taught photojournalism at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - PUC/SP and worked as a freelancer for several publications. During this period, she produced photo essays on children living on the streets of São Paulo and began documenting popular religious festivals in Brazil. In 1984, she worked for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo and, in 1985 and 1986, for the magazine Veja. She received the Prêmio Abril de Fotojornalismo [Abril Photojournalism Award] in 1986. The following year, she founded the agency Fotograma Fotojornalismo e Documentação with Ed Viggiani (1958) and Emidio Luisi (1948). In 1989, she made her first contact with Indigenous peoples in Altamira, Pará, and from then on documented Karajá, Kayapó, Tukano, Yanomami, Xavante, Guarani and Pankararu communities. She is the author of the books Índios. Os Primeiros Habitantes [Indians: The First Inhabitants], 1998, Raízes do Povo Xavante [Roots of the Xavante People], 2003, and Festas de Fé [Festivals of Faith], 2004. Since 1997, she has run the agency StudioR, working in advertising, journalism and documentation. In 2004, in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - Unesco, she created the non-governmental organization Nossa Tribo, dedicated to projects focused on child nutrition and the publication of books and postcards.
Critical Commentary
Rosa Gauditano's work is directly tied to her concern with spreading awareness of cultural traditions and to her personal engagement in Indigenous causes. Her main photo essays focus on folk and religious festivals, such as the bumba-meu-boi in the Pindaré valley, Maranhão, and the Festa do Divino [Feast of the Holy Spirit] in Pirenópolis, Goiás, and document aspects of the daily life of Indigenous peoples in different regions of Brazil.
In her photographs of festivities, the framings are frontal and the saturated colors are partly a result of the intense, flat natural light. The aesthetic dimension of the images belongs above all to the subject itself - to the embroidery, glitter and adornments, to the mix of fabrics, patterns and colors typical of the costumes worn in the processions.
The descriptive character also prevails in her records of Indigenous peoples, in which Rosa Gauditano focuses on aspects of their daily life (household chores, crafts, hunting, children's games, rituals, etc.) and shows signs that make explicit the tribes' contact with white culture: Indigenous women wearing bras, soda bottle caps incorporated into adornments, clothes and manufactured objects. The photos reaffirm the image of the "noble savage", characteristic of the romantic iconography of the second half of the 19th century. There are no conflicts in them; the Indigenous people appear in harmony with one another and with nature. This interpretation takes on a political connotation, since it gives positive visibility to populations whose rights are often neglected.
Critiques
"The contemporary view of this world of festivals is often limited to the exotic or the folkloric or else, at the opposite extreme, becomes a cold documentation of anthropological rigor. Rosa Gauditano has been attending these popular festivals for a long time and is familiar with events from different regions. This allows her an emotional complicity with the participants in these games, dances, processions or religious ceremonies. It is her affection and respect for the human types and for the ritual situations that make her images still show the dignity of an almost lost time. Yet, thanks to these photos, one can discover that belief in ancestral truths still pulses through the interior of Brazil".
Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça
Catálogo da exposição Cores e Festas na Galeria Alliance Française
Testimonials
"My main work in photography is documenting this country that is so unknown to us. I am currently working on recovering the Indigenous culture of various peoples across Brazil. I believe photography is a powerful weapon for creating a communication link with our people, who are so poorly informed about their own reality".
Collections
Coleção Pirelli/Masp de Fotografias - São Paulo SP
Solo Exhibitions
1998 - São Paulo SP - Chunhantãs: Mulheres Indígenas [Chunhantãs: Indigenous Women], at Sesc Itaquera
2003 - São Paulo SP - Raízes do Povo Xavante [Roots of the Xavante People], at Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
2003 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
Group Exhibitions
1978 - São Paulo SP - Impressões de Viagem [Travel Impressions], at Imagem e Ação
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Photography Show, at Funarte. Galeria de Fotografia
1984 - Rome (Italy) - Firmato Donna
1984 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo 1984, at Banca Commerciale Italiana
1984 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo Gigante e Int., at CCSP
1985 - São Paulo SP - Autorretrato Brasil [Self-Portrait Brazil], at Fundação Bienal
1986 - The City of São Paulo, at Brasilian Institute
1988 - Milan (Italy) - 17th Milan Triennial
1989 - São Paulo SP - Festa do Divino de São Luiz do Paraitinga [Feast of the Holy Spirit in São Luiz do Paraitinga], at Sesc Pompeia
1989 - São Paulo SP - Images of São Paulo, at Masp
1991 - Florianópolis SC - Cores e Festas [Colors and Festivals]
1991 - São Paulo SP - Cores e Festas [Colors and Festivals], at Aliança Francesa
1992 - São Paulo SP - Indigenous Peoples, at Núcleo Cultura Indígena
1993 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection, at Masp
1993 - São Paulo SP - Images of Indigenous Daily Life, at Aliança Francesa
1995 - São Paulo SP - Contatos e Confrontos: o Índio e o Branco [Contacts and Confrontations: The Indigenous and the White Man], at MIS/SP
1996 - Bogotá (Colombia) - Imagenes de Brasil. Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection, at Casa do Brasil
1996 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Imagenes de Brasil. Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection, at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
1996 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Imagenes de Brasil. Pirelli/Masp Photography Collection, at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber
1996 - Curitiba PR - 1st Curitiba International Biennial, at Solar do Barão
1997 - São Paulo SP - Nossa Tribo [Our Tribe], at Casa Fuji de Fotografia
1998 - São Paulo SP - Amazônicas [Amazonian Women], at Itaú Cultural
2004 - São Paulo SP - Canção do Dia de Sempre [Song of Every Day], at Memorial da América Latina
Source: Itaú Cultural
