As visões fotográficas das margens de Salvador, Bahia: experiências narrativas do fotógrafo-narrador

Abstract

The memory and tradition (of the losers) are the foundations of contemporary History ś narrative. Supported by this argument, upheld by Walter Benjamin, we shall reflect upon the work of three photographers who applied an auteur’s, poetic and aesthetic narrative to Salvador in Bahia. The image of this Brazilian city was built with help from the peripheral vision of Pierre Verger, Mario Cravo Neto and Adenor Gondim; who being passionate about the urban look of the city during the last 70 years. Subverting the norms of discourse imposed by the Bahian elite those artists gave rise to a perspective of the city from the interventions of its inhabitants recording marks left by people living on the margins of society. The “screens”, which covered the deprivation and the city’s forgotten characters, were pulled back by the lenses of the photographers who began to tell stories permeated by daily struggles.