What did it mean to see a photograph for the first time? What happens when a photograph is taken?
A picture of me in a craddle. That`s the first factual piece of evidence I have from my early years of life. In the era of film cameras and home videos, my childhood was highly documented by my parents and the rest of my family.
Pictures of my parents and grandparents are also relatively available. However, as I went back in time, diving into my own familys photo albuns, recollections of my family members become more and more scarce. First the photos become black and white, then less moments are captured. Finally one can only see ¨traditional¨ photographs, taken professionally, until no pictures are found, to rely on.
It is a known fact that, as technologies progress, we as consumers become more and more dependent, incorporating them into our lives. But imagine for a moment you were born on the verge of the popularization of the photographic camera, for example.
In the 19th century, for the first time, you had all these new possible narratives and perspectives available on how to document life, making it possible to tell stories through a more personal perspective . The most ordinary of John Doughs could, from then on, foverer encapsulate moments into eternity, telling stories in his own words.
The revolutionary tale of photography and the art of¨writing with light¨ sets paradigmatic precedents for mankind and the tales that would be told. The capturing of fleeting moments allowed humanity to better understand itself, as it ilustrated some of its darkest moments, as well as its most beautiful, joyful events and seasons.
This confrontation of people with their own immortalized reflection made profund impacts on the way we, as societies, behave and the way we understand our own historical progressions.
This happens because as humans, we relly heavily on multiple points of view, to build our sense of self and to grasp the reality happening around us. Only something as subjective, subtle and immersive as photographs are able to make us change perspectives, get to know different realities and make us question so much, without using hardly any text.
A picture sometimes really is worth a thousand words.
Giovanna Carvalho
Arte & Multimédia 