This series of 15 documentary photographs was first exhibited in Museu da Imagem e do Som de Campinas, from July 8th until July 25th 2015. These photos were conceptualized as prints that would be placed in bus stops throughout the city as an urban intervention. The series was a byproduct of an undergraduate research project to study and systematize a conceptual documentary photography method from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague in the Netherlands. The research investigated how procedural steps inscribed in a production method can influence a project or work of art. This was observed not only for educational purposes, but also as a tool for creating new ways of retrieving knowledge over images and their connection to world experiences. The proposed photography methodology worked as an instrument to potentialize revelations regarding fascinations and interests of a photographer towards his or her topic, still largely based on the actual experience of visualizing a subject matter, facilitating conscious aesthetic choices.
Some scholars have dealt with the production dynamics of art projects, specially regarding the conditions that influence their development. The field of design, established with a focus towards industry and cosmetic utility, has contributed with important systems on a project based practice of creative products, for example the Experimental Methodology on Design (Bonsiepe 1986). When dealing with these dynamics in the field of documentary photography, it was possible to observe different matrixes of actions to follow in order to improve aesthetic awareness and professionalize photographers' practices. The paradigm established for the working method is of one that can be “known, made transferable and learned” and account anyone, not only talented artists, to produce insights about their subjective experience through photography.
In order to systematize this way of working, interviews were conducted with key photographers within the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. The interviews were based in conversations regarding multiple topics surrounding the development of a photographic project. Another way of gathering data related to the practical application of the suggested method of photographing the urban mobility in the city of Campinas was working in a class with students and observing how their expectations and interests were confronted by reality. All of these sources and experiments were brought together, recorded and translated into a structured version of the way of working, accompanied by a visual model entitled ‘Zeeuwse Bolus’.
As a result, the project conducted a qualitative research, practical experiments, an exhibition and two published articles about art practice in documentary photography. At the end of the show held in Campinas, the audience was engaged in the urban intervention that placed the photographs throughout the city at bus stops. This research was presented at the Belo Horizonte International Festival of Photography and at the Royal Academy of Art Symposium in The Hague in 2015.
Some scholars have dealt with the production dynamics of art projects, specially regarding the conditions that influence their development. The field of design, established with a focus towards industry and cosmetic utility, has contributed with important systems on a project based practice of creative products, for example the Experimental Methodology on Design (Bonsiepe 1986). When dealing with these dynamics in the field of documentary photography, it was possible to observe different matrixes of actions to follow in order to improve aesthetic awareness and professionalize photographers' practices. The paradigm established for the working method is of one that can be “known, made transferable and learned” and account anyone, not only talented artists, to produce insights about their subjective experience through photography.
In order to systematize this way of working, interviews were conducted with key photographers within the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. The interviews were based in conversations regarding multiple topics surrounding the development of a photographic project. Another way of gathering data related to the practical application of the suggested method of photographing the urban mobility in the city of Campinas was working in a class with students and observing how their expectations and interests were confronted by reality. All of these sources and experiments were brought together, recorded and translated into a structured version of the way of working, accompanied by a visual model entitled ‘Zeeuwse Bolus’.
As a result, the project conducted a qualitative research, practical experiments, an exhibition and two published articles about art practice in documentary photography. At the end of the show held in Campinas, the audience was engaged in the urban intervention that placed the photographs throughout the city at bus stops. This research was presented at the Belo Horizonte International Festival of Photography and at the Royal Academy of Art Symposium in The Hague in 2015.
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