If this street were mine

If this street were mine Raphael Alves

If this street were mine Raphael Alves

“Se essa rua

Se essa rua fosse minha

Eu mandava

Eu mandava ladrilhar

Com pedrinhas

Com pedrinhas de brilhantes

Para o meu

Para o meu amor passar [...]”

“If this street/ If this street were mine /I would have/ I

would have it tiled/ With pebbles/ With shiny pebbles/

So my love/ so my love could pass there [...]”

( Se essa rua fosse minha” - Brazilian popular lullaby)

In homage to my mother who, during my childhood

with a lullaby, made the whole world fit into a street...

the street we live in

Discussions about Photography in Manaus (the capital of the State of Amazonas and

the seventh most populous city in Brazil) began just a few years ago with the introduction

of photo clubs and a few some short time projects. However, there is still a long way to go

in this area: the professionals are still poorly recognized, only few productions have reached

audience, there are no publications related to that. Also, in terms of education, Photography in

Manaus still has to be developed: the only photography schools or courses in this region are

still devoted to the teaching of equipment handling and basics such as the rule of thirds and

position of the horizon line in a photograph.

With an overview of these, it is possible to realize that that while commercial

photography grows in Manaus (which corresponds to 60 percent of the whole population of

the State of Amazonas), the authoral work and documentation of the city is still insignificant. In

a search for images of Manaus, there can be only found the city’s sights, like Teatro Amazonas,

natural beauties, such as the meeting of the waters of the rivers Solimoes and Negro, and

images of fauna and flora. This explains why people from other regions in Brazil only see

Manaus as a small town, isolated and populated only by indigenous people and residents of

flooded areas. Therefore, it is necessary a real and thorough documentation of the city in its

various aspects: social, economic, cultural and anthropological. Manaus is a city of contrasts,

a metropolis in transformation that goes through an economic boom. And Photography can

contribute in showing this.

With this project named “If this street were mine”, there is the intention to deploy a

new way of documenting the city. A form based on historical research. The idea is to organize

photography workshops in various areas of the city and ask each participant to document the

If this street were mine: planting seeds for documentary photography in the state of Amazonas

street where he/she lives in during the course. These workshops also address technical

principles, but it is mainly devoted to issues related to documentary photography, photo

research and editing.

Thus, at the end of each workshop, instead of having just a touristic vision of

the city, there will a good variety of images showing Manaus as its citizens see it. The

product obtained in the courses can generate exhibitions, catalogs from different areas

of the city, books, multimedia works, among others.

Although it is important for the city documentation, the most important part of

the project is the educational aspect it bears. This can be a new start for Photography

in Manaus, where people will start using Photography as research methods. Certainly,

this collective project will unfold in a variety of other projects (that can be personal,

collective, educational, photographic, multimedia or any other kind) always based in

research.

To present the project, a documentary about Emílio Moreira street, where I

live in, is being produced. I have been documenting this street for half an year. Also, a

video called “If this were my street” (5:28 long) was made. The objective is to make

an exhibition in a public space of both the video and also the photos to launch the

educational project.

The link for the video is: https://vimeo.com/61074350

All the photographs were also published at:

http://www.photoraphaelalves.com/#!se-essa-rua-fosse-minha/ciyd

“The only true voyage of discovery, the

only fountain of Eternal Youth, would

not be to visit strange lands,

but to possess other eyes”

(Marcel Proust, in Remembrance of Things Past - vol. 5)