LISA promoted photography workshop open to public

The Laboratory of Image and Sound in Anthropology - LISA - held the workshop “Photographing and Seeing” from February 4 to 7, 2025. It was taught by researchers from the Visual Anthropology Group of the University of São Paulo (GRAVI-USP): Kelwin Marques, master's student in Social Anthropology at USP; Laila Kontic, master's student in Social Anthropology at USP; Kelly Koide, postdoctoral student at the Department of Anthropology at USP.

The meetings, held in person, sought to present technical concepts about a camera and its manual operation, practical exercises, discussions about photography and visual anthropology, in addition to a visit to the exhibition “Trajetórias Cruzadas: Claudia Andujar, Lux Vidal and Maureen Bisilliat”, held at the MariaAntonia Center of the University of São Paulo. The workshop was part of a series of activities for the exhibition “Trajetórias Cruzadas”, promoted with resources from the São Paulo Cultural Action Program (ProAc) and the result of research funded by the Research Support Foundation (FAPESP).

The classes

Over the course of four days, students were introduced to the basic concepts of a camera, its manual operation, and challenged to produce and reproduce certain images and effects with the cameras provided by the laboratory. In the first meeting, students learned about the essential elements for operating the camera manually, such as ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. After being introduced to the basics of composition, color, and light, the second meeting presented the work of renowned photographers such as Elza Lima, Afonso Pimenta, Duane Michals, Samuel Macedo, Walter Fimo, João Mendes, Maureen Bisilliat, Claudia Andujar, among others.

On the third day of the workshop, accompanied by the instructors, students visited the exhibition “Trajetórias Cruzadas”, located at the USP MariAntonia Center, curated by Professor Sylvia Caiuby Novaes and Fabiana Bruno. The exhibition brought together photographs by European anthropologists and photographers Cláudia Andujar, Lux Vidal and Maureen Bisilliat, revealing aspects of 20th-century Brazil. Finally, the last meeting proposed that the group reproduce a photograph that interested the students, using the techniques learned, resources and materials provided by LISA. The students put into practice the knowledge acquired in the first two meetings. Samuel Lima, a student of the Social Sciences course at the School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) and one of the participants in the workshop, emphasizes that he has always been interested in photography, but never had the opportunity to deepen his knowledge. According to him, “the difference in this course was precisely the practical part we had: learning how to use cameras and how to analyze other people’s photographs as inspiration for our creations. In addition to the practical part, going to the MariAntônia Center to see the exhibition ‘Trajetórias Cruzadas’, as a Social Sciences student, was important.” To learn more about the activities carried out in the laboratory, visit: https://lisa.fflch.usp.br/aconteceunolisa and follow us on Instagram.