in the margins of the south district
images of São Paulo: pinhole and the children
The pinhole photographs presented here in this group comes from the project: “Olhar sobre a cidade: fotografia e desenho na construção de imagens sobre São Paulo a partir das escolas municipais de educação infantil” |1 (MCTI/CNPq/MEC/CAPES Nº 18/2012 - Ciências Humanas, Sociais e Sociais Aplicadas). This research had the goal of understanding, through plastic expressions like photography, some of the possible representations about the city constructed by children from 3 to 5 years old who attend the CEIs (Centros de Educação Infantil – lit. Children Education Centers) and EMEIs (Escolas Municipais de Educação Infantil – lit. Municipal Pre-Schools). There’s a lot yet to know about the points of view and representations of the city, particularly from children of very young age.
Public kindergarten and pre-schools were the starting points of the research due to the relationships kept with the surrounding community, usually where the children live. These spaces are conceived as interlocutors and mediators between researchers, children and city, public spaces where children cultures, democracy and countless relationships are learned and built.
To photograph is to live historically, and it’s also to dialog with the visible world and register it, not as a copy, but as another possible creation. It is one of many other ways of organizing the world and, who knows, collaborate in the construction of other possible worlds, righteous and with the children.
The photos presented here are a result of photographic trips conducted throughout the neighborhoods surrounding town halls where the EMEI’s and CEI’s are situated. This production derives from the relations between different fields and institutions that children attend and constitute themselves as subjects since their birth. We bring a number of pictures, all created by kids throughout 2014. The pinhole photographs are an extension of the ongoing project. The pinhole photography is an artesanal technique where an almost imperceptible hole is made in objects like cans, boxes or bags using a needle, from where the images are captured. For the production of the images in this group, tin cans were used and the artesanal cameras were crafted during workshops.
Marcia Gobbi
Maria Cristina Stello Leite
1| lit. “View over the city: photography and drawing in the construction of images of São Paulo from the municipal pre-schools”
