Browsing by Author "Brant, Alfredo"
Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Biopolitics and wildlife photographic representationPublication . Brant, AlfredoThis communication examines contemporary wildlife photographic representations in the context of the current environmental crisis. Scientists and academics acknowledge the urgency of the rapidly deteriorating situation, but how is this awareness expressed in our visual representation of nature, and specifically of animals? Today, the proliferation of wildlife photography competitions attests to an increasing interest in wildlife imagery, as does the avidity with which their prize-winning photographs - mostly plastic images obtained by impressive technical skills - are shared on the Internet. The present study investigates the meanings and the biases embedded in the winning images from the last five editions of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, organized by London's Natural History Museum. In 2019, the contest comprised 16 different categories and received 48,000 entries. For the sake of clarity, we will analyze only photographs of animals, aiming to elucidate the social-political discourses behind the uniformity of these images. The study explores a trend in which human behaviors are transposed to animals' gestures and facial expressions, and questions whether these representations are relevant to overcoming the current ecological crisis.
- Deslocações and documentary poetics: memories within images and wordsPublication . Brant, Alfredo
- A mulher do soldado desconhecidoPublication . Brant, Alfredo; Kovič, Amadea; Thaler, Miriam Theresa; Iancu, Zohar
- Nostalgic knots: a Lisbon vignettePublication . Thaler, Miriam; Brant, Alfredo
- On the narrative potential of photobooks: an analysis of Alec Soth's Niagara's bookPublication . Brant, AlfredoVisual narratives have a long history in the context of human cultural artifacts. In any sequence of images, the juxtaposition of visual signs gives rise to narrative potential. The narrative qualities of photographic images have been explored since its early days through the medium of the book. Borrowing the book artifact from literature, photography has adapted it for its own purposes. Such appropriation invites an examination of the strategies that are employed in photobooks to promote the emergence of narratives. Drawing upon the field of Narrative Studies and the concepts of storyworld and worldmaking, this paper investigates the narrative construction in the photobook Niagara (2006), produced by photographer Alec Soth. The paper demonstrates that certain strategies used in literary texts are analogous to the photobook space. In conclusion, I argue that photobooks are cultural objects that offer invaluable narrative possibilities, especially because they afford agency for the reader’s/viewer’s worldmaking.
- Photographic poiesis : transformative knowledge of African photographic practicesPublication . Brant, Alfredo; Silva, Ana Luísa dos Santos Diniz daThis doctoral dissertation explores the production of transformative knowledge through creative practices in the realm of contemporary African photography. It draws on visual culture and postcolonial studies as its primary theoretical framework, and decolonial praxis as a guide for concrete interventions in the social sphere. The principal question posed by this investigation is: How can the strategies available in photographic practices afford transformative knowledge? In addition to shaping society through engaged modes of image production, photography enables practitioners to visually decode the world in a unique way. To that extent, it provides access to the subjective sphere, assisting individuals to cope with personal experiences, emotions, and desires. Moreover, photographic practice produces transformative knowledge when it operates as a mechanism for self-learning. Therefore, it is argued that ‘photographic thinking’ is an empowering tool that promotes a decolonial aesthesis (Mignolo and Vazquez 2013) by challenging restrictive Western notions – such as aesthetics and poetics – and allowing a space for micro-narratives to emerge. In approaching the Catchupa Factory residency as a space for learning based on an emancipatory conception of education, we propose the notion of photographic poiesis. It seeks to establish a more dynamic connection between the discipline of visual literacy and photographic production. Such a linkage leads us to a reflection on the pedagogical aspects within the institutional framework of an artistic residency devoted to emerging African photographers, and how it can effectively generate non-hegemonic visual knowledge, social change, and self-actualization. The results are expected to contribute to visual literacy by providing new tools for artists, educators, curators, and practitioners working with photographic images.