HISTORY

2015 FROM 23 TO 27 SEPTEMBER
11th PARATY IN FOCUS - INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Representation and self-representation in the device age

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The emergence of photography revolutionized the regime of representation prevailing in nineteenth-century society. Among the main "infirmities" that affected the "worshipers of the Sun God", in the words of the poet Baudelaire, the "portrait fever" stands out. What was the privilege of a wealthy elite

soon became accessible to the masses. Multitudes of daffodils threw themselves in the quest to see their traces recorded for posterity on the surface

of a photosensitive paper.
Until very recently, in order to obtain a good portrait one had to address a photographer in a sort of alchemical ritual, during which we placed in the hands

of others the task of constructing an idealized image of ourselves. Nowadays, at the other extreme, a tourist through a selfie not only makes his own

portrait as he records his geolocation, eager to record traces that extrapolate everyday life in the timelines of social networks.
In the era of electronic devices and networked communication, each one commands its own spectacle. In theory, the individual now owns the complete construction of his image, as if each of us had a marketing agency at our disposal.
And the photographer? We are of the theory that, in a world where everyone is photographing, the photographer is the one who edits, who constructs

the narratives, getting closer and closer to a photograph with origins in oral history. The memory of the future depends essentially on these storytellers.
Photographers - both the arts and craft - have found in the portrait a creative tool to deal with their subjects. If, on the one hand, the selfie stick solves

a question of affirmation of identity and belonging, on the other hand, the portrait has also been a tool for photographers and contemporary artists to construct increasingly elaborate narratives.
Exactly 10 years ago the Paraty em Foco has been in charge of fomenting contemporary discussions about the image. In its 11th edition, the Festival proposes a debate on representation and self-representation in the era of electronic devices. Bring your gadgets, images, ideas, concepts and prejudices and come and debate with photographers, thinkers and other great professionals of this field, coming from the four corners of the world.