RAPHAEL ALVES

May 26

Limites imprecisos

Tell us about the origins of Limites Imprecisos. How did this project come about?

RA:I was in a workshop with the photographer Ernesto Bazan. He performs several in different places. I went to Bahia and it was a magical moment of great learning. We went out to photograph the Recôncavo Baiano. An enriching life experience!

Is a title important to you in your projects? The content of your photographs seems to evoke the title name. Tell us about this selection process.

RA: I like to look at the images and find something that makes them cohesive. Something like a thread! In this case, I wanted to know more about the region and one of the things I read was that there are no exactly defined geographic limits on what the region is. As I got to know its inhabitants and landscape, a feeling also arose, something inaccurate, difficult to explain about seeing new things and being on the verge of photographing or lowering the camera and experiencing it. That way I came up with the title of the project.

“I like to look at the images and find something that makes them cohesive. Something like a thread”

In the sequence of your images you can read mostly a relationship of movement, as well as the play of gray and warm tones of the region according to the layers and the motion of the subjects. Is this something that occurred during the process of your project or is it a preconceived idea before photographing?

RA: I would very much like to have some organization about the process , but I think that everything I do happens a bit in chaos. Let me explain: I think that photographers should take images, and I am very happy to be able to photograph freely, without having to meet objectives. The transformation process into a body of work, with me, happens later when I evaluate what I have been producing.

What are some important lessons that you have learned from your subjects in this project?

RA: I think the beauty of simplicity must have been what resonates the most. It was very beautiful, exciting to see through the lives and stories of the people I met on the trip, even the ones I did not even photograph. That simplicity and complexity are not opposed: simplicity is something complex by nature.

“I think the beauty of simplicity must have been what resonates the most. It was very beautiful, exciting to see through the lives and stories of the people I met on the trip”

“ I went to Bahia and it was a magical moment of great learning. We went out to photograph the Recôncavo Baiano. An enriching life experience!”

Do you any ongoing or upcoming projects in the Reconcavo region or other regions of Brazil?

RA: The truth is that every time I travel somewhere I try to do something, without thinking about longterm projects or series. I only have one project outside my town, located in the state of Goiás, my wife was born there and we always visit the region. I love to see the way of life on the road, in the country and even in the city, so I can interpret how everything made my wife who she is. Everything is very different, because Brazil is huge and full of contrasts. It doesn't even have a name yet. But I've been thinking "Where does it come from?" Besides that, I have two projects here in Manaus: “Riversick” and “Hume (City)”. At this moment, however, because of what we are living with the pandemic, I dedicate myself to the project that I have been developing on how the pandemic affected my region (unfortunately a region that has been suffering the most in Brazil and in whole world). That one is called “Insulae”.