USP researcher’s photo essay wins the Transatlantic Photography Award 2024

Evandro Lima, master of the Post-Graduate Program in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (PPGAS-USP) and former fellow of the Laboratory of Image and Sound in Anthropology (LISA-USP), was awarded in 2024 with the Transatlantic Photography Award 2024. The award consisted of a trip and activities at the LetteVerein School in Berlin. The award-winning photo shoot was held during the Festa dos Nordestinos do Jardim Record, an action of the collective Árido 2 de Julho, held in Taboão da Serra, metropolitan region of São Paulo.

For Evandro, the award represents the validation of his work. Son of northeastern parents, he considers that the images produced during the event, in addition to contributing to his training as an anthropologist, also help preserve the image and culture of immigrant populations. During his stay in the German capital, the researcher attended workshops, visits to sights, exhibitions, museums and art galleries. In addition to presenting the award-winning essay, he took a larger series of photographs with cuttings from the outskirts of Taboão da Serra, sharing them with other students and teachers.

Trajectory 

Evandro has a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH-USP) and has worked as a documentalist at the Çare Institute, he was an intern at the Research and Documentation Center of the São Paulo Art Museum (MASP), is a researcher at the Brazilian Football Reference Center of the Football Museum and in the collective Árido 2 de Julho. Experience with photographic collections is a relevant part of his professional curriculum, as a two-year LISA-USP scholarship holder for the Unified Scholarship Program (PUB), an integrated action of the Graduate Pro-Rectories, Research and Innovation, Culture and University Extension and Inclusion and Belonging, Evandro developed activities in the areas of research, sanitation, cataloging and digitization of historical documents, especially photographic. The researcher reports that access to the laboratory’s collection was his first step into the world of photography and where he had contact with the work of important researchers, anthropologists and photographers, among them Sylvia Caiuby, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, Cláudia Andujar, Curt Nimuendajú and Lux Vidal.

Currently, the laboratory has about 1,900 films, 700 hours of sound recordings and more than 24,000 images (including photos, stickers and glass plates) that dialogue with various themes. Thus, the collection remains as an important source of research for researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, a center for the preservation of the memory of native peoples and a space for exchange between different areas of knowledge, due to the various activities carried out and based at LISA.

The Arid 2 of July and the Transatlantic Prize

Founded by Evandro Lima and Fernando Barbosa, professor of history in the municipal network of São Paulo and master’s degree in History of Education at FEUSP, Árido 2 de Julho is a cultural and academic producer that, through cultural and social actions, seeks to integrate the peripheral neighborhoods of Taboão da Serra with the academic world and scientific production.

The forró held in the neighborhood Garden Record was one of the first demonstrations carried out by the collective, aiming to meet especially the population of northeastern origin, which make up a significant part of the local community, helping to keep their traditions and expressive forms alive. The recordings made on the day of the event culminated in the short film Forró no Record - 1ª Festa dos Nordestinos do Jardim Record - Árido 2 de Julho, available on YouTube. The film was produced by the collective in partnership with LISA.

The photographs produced by Evandro during the event resulted in a set of five images that were awarded by the Transatlantic Photography Award 2024. Held by the Transatlantic Club, an entity founded in 1954 with the aim of integrating Brazilian and European culture, the competition had as its theme "migration", in honor of 200 years of German immigration to Brazil. The award recognized photographs that offered a re-interpretation of the concept of migration, ranging from the displacement of people and animals to the movement of objects.

The contest had three phases and two categories: adult and popular jury. Each candidate should send a series of five photos that dialogue with the proposed theme. In the first phase, the 250 best sets were selected by the judging board; in the second phase, the 10 best sets were chosen for the final stage; and in the third phase, there was the selection of the winners by the judging board and the popular jury. The winners received respectively a five-day trip to Germany, with activities at the LetteVerein School in Berlin, and a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC W830 camera.

Other awards and future plans

Before being awarded by the Transatlantic Club, Evandro participated in other photo contests, such as "Italy is here", held by the Immigration Museum, where he won 3rd place. He was also a finalist in the competition held by the Football Museum, with the theme "The Floodplain and Football" and in the "mObgraphia Award", where his photograph was exhibited at the São Paulo Image and Sound Museum (MIS), all in 2024.

Currently, as a graduate student, Evandro states that photography is a fundamental part of his master’s research, in which he intends to study the football of the floodplain and how social markers are present in the identities of the teams and their members.