In times of isolation and uncertainty, creativity flourishes in very beautiful ways. Brazil, a rich stage for thinking ‘outside the box’ has been faced with the circumstances to let all its natural creative force show up.
With references from the ancestral of the photographic camera, attributed to the Chinese philosopher Mozi, in the 5th century BC, to the Renaissance and its first use as an optical device, and the likes of Picasso, Picasso, Matisse, Magritté, to his most recent inspiration in the work of Cuban photographer Abelardo Morell, artist Bruno Alencastro has created & directed a cooperative photographic project to register the lives and emotions of individuals during the pandemic isolation period.
Obs-cu-ra is the sum of it all. A series of portraits designed by photographer Bruno Alencastro from the 4th-floor window of the apartment where he lives in the Copacabana neighborhood, in Rio de Janeiro. From there, he went to the homes of 12 more Brazilian photographers who agreed to turn their houses into large-format obscure cameras and captured life in times of pandemic. Each with its uniqueness. Achievements and losses. Wishes and privileges. Fears and hopes.
“As a photographer, I was doubly distressed by this pandemic. For all that it’s been causing, but also challenged to think about how to document all this without being able to leave the house.” Bruno Alencastro