International Photography Festival starts with more than 200 works

The Porto Alegre International Photography Festival (FestFoto 2023) starts tomorrow at the Iberê Foundation (Av. Padre Cacique, 2000 - Cristal, Porto Alegre), with 200 works by Brazilian and foreign artists. Created in 2007, the festival seeks to bring together the dialogue between photographers and the public with questions about the environment, memory, daily life and other current themes. At opening, from 14h, admission is free. The exhibition continues until the 20th of August; the other days with entry through tickets.

This year's exhibition has three cores. The part of guest artists features works by Flávio Edreira, José Diniz and Luciana Britto, which occupy rooms on the third floor. Flávio brings documentary photos focusing on memories and everyday details. “Pau-Brasil” is José's exhibition, which is already in its seventh year of partnership with FestFoto; and Luciana presents a photoperformance.

The “Free Photogram”, located in the entrance hall, brings together works selected by an international call. The 10 finalists are divided between the essay and video/multimedia categories. The winner of each group receives a free passport to a portfolio reading organized by an international panel after the exhibition. The best portfolio will have its works acquired by the Fortaleza Photography Museum.

Lastly, the “Without Filter” exhibition, spread across the floors, displays works developed at Ateliê FestFoto, the project's incubator. Anyone who is interested can participate in a year of mentoring and monitoring to develop a collective photographic project to be presented in the next edition of the festival.

Sinara Sandri, journalist and coordinator of FestFoto since its creation, explains that, in addition to offering space for artists to produce, the festival also aims to facilitate public access to this type of media. “Photography is a very popular thing and Porto Alegre has a huge public, we have very expressive visits”.

The works chosen usually deal with relevant and urgent themes for society. Among the highlights of this year's call is the exhibition “Portraits of tragedy”, by Ricardo Ravanello. The photographer spent almost two years producing an essay with family members and survivors of the Kiss nightclub fire, in January 2013, in Santa Maria.

Ravanello developed a unique technique from the use of wet collodion, a chemical that came to be used in photographs in the 1850s, and the camera's long exposure. One of the effects is to leave the photo with an “aged” aspect. The contours of the image are somehow “deteriorated” by the process, as if the photo were melted or burned. This mixes with the burn marks on the survivors' skin, confusing the public about what is body and what is chemistry.

Because it is an old and complex process, the time required to capture each photo is much longer than digital alternatives, sometimes reaching almost 1 hour. “The process of photographing is much more about creating a relationship with people than actually capturing an image”, he defines. Ravanello explains that he asks the model to follow the reveal with him. “My initial desire was to try to produce some kind of positive experience. There's that moment of catharsis in the lab when you're there with the red light and the image starts to appear. It's always very exciting."

Sinara relates the importance of the festival precisely to its role in questioning the way we see the world. “At every festival we take the opportunity to say that if people go there and come back wanting to take pictures, to look at everyday things in a more poetic way, our mission is accomplished”, thinks the creator and curator. “You don't need to be on the moon to see something that is beautiful, that awakens sensitivity and is a channel of expression. Everyday life itself can be that.”