Parallel Lines: Marcella Marer
Marcela Falci, Só eu saberei se foi a falha necessária, 2018
Federica Belli: The language of photography is still among the most contemporary ones, notwithstanding the diffusion of digital art and AR. Which factors make photography such a relevant medium in our time?
Marcella Marer: Photography is a very accessible and popular medium: not only we have social media, which are basically built around images, we also see them around us all the time in the streets, on the screens, in advertisements, printed in magazines, books, journals. It makes the medium very popular as a means of communication as well. Considering the art market, photography is characterised by reproducibility: the same photography can be sold with a certain amount of copies, one show can be replicated in many parts of the world at the same time, and also the photo-books can present a body of work to another amount of people by numerous editions. Thus, photography is perceived as accessible both by creators and by the public. However, even with the large amount of images encountered daily, their proper reading is still a challenge. When we add the use of editing and generating image softwares, the understating of the image is even more tricky. This complexity can lead to misuse of the language by political matters for example.
F.B. The issue of visual literacy is emerging as definitely urgent. We are often not able to completely decipher the hidden messages in a photograph. Inclusivity is another contemporary issue in the industry: we are finally witnessing an increasing presence of women photographers. Have you noticed a shift towards inclusivity in the field of curation and management as well, or is the trend exclusive to photographers?
M.M. There is an effort from every position in the art world to include more diverse perspectives, even though it is a slow process and still not enough. I notice that there are still few women in decision-making positions like curators, editors and directors, but there are many women in “behind the scenes” and production positions. I have recently seen an award in which the jury consisted of women, however the artists awarded were mostly male. This made me think of how structured the problem is, coming from ages of cultural formation in which the man was always the protagonist. Not only as the artists with more visibility but also chosen by the male’s point of view. It is challenging, because we want to be legitimised by our pairs, we struggle to invest in new names and works and our vision was built over a male and colonised perspective. It takes time to eradicate this sort of disparity.
Evna Moura
F.B. Under a different perspective, the increasingly diverse narratives presented by photographers might bring a contribution and accelerate the shift in those beliefs, giving life to a virtuous circle: the more diverse are the stories we absorb, the more we are prepared to welcome these changes in real life.
M.M. I really hope so. And in fact, though we mainly discussed female inclusion, this applies to diversity in many forms. It is a deep change that the actors of the art world must be opened to face. The parameters to look at a body of work have to be improved to have a more inclusive approach. This means working with diverse teams that bring different perspectives. Institutions can be opened, can study, can specialise but to have a real change, they have to share their seat and give voice to those who have never talked.
F.B. While it is fundamental to face this issue, inclusivity has become a word we hear so often that it might end up generating a phenomenon similar to that of greenwashing. Why do you think the inclusion of diverse stories actually matters?
M.M. I have to mention Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer who has talked about the dangers linked to evaluating one perspective only: a unique voice makes for a stereotyped narrative. The problem does not lie in the stereotype itself being right or wrong, but rather in its incompleteness. So, if the diversity of the world is not included into the artistic world, we have an incomplete art history. It is fundamental to look to the present we are living in but also to review the past that wasn’t inclusive. This is something that Ariella Azoulay, a theorist of photography, proposes when she explores the impacts of imperialism and its use of photography in the history. The current exhibition about Brazilian photographic modernism in MoMA is a good example of reviewing the past. Thanks to this international legitimation, the Brazilian modernism photography can now be included into the international photography history and not only at the Brazilian one. Interestingly enough, the person behind this event is a woman curator, Sarah Meister, who has been helped, among others, by many women curators in Brazil..
Pontes sobre Abismos, Aline-Motta
F.B. Your career has brought you from major Brazilian photo-festivals to the French photography scene. Which cultural differences have you noticed between Latin America and Europe, regarding the way creatives network among them?
M.M. There are considerable differences between these two photographic communities. First of all, in France each person has a clear cut position, with its own sphere of responsibility, which she explores in depth. For instance, European photography festivals benefit from many decades of accumulated savoir-faire. They count on many sponsors that enable them to have fixed teams that work all year long planning the next edition. At the same time, such strong traditions generate a struggle to adapt and welcome innovative solutions. Brazil comes from a different place, with photo-festivals organised by very small teams in which every member takes care of many different tasks, usually with a low budget and an unpredictable situation regarding the political, social and economical situation of the country, that demands a lot of creativity to make it happen. And it doesn’t mean that we don’t develop a know-how, but it is a know-how that involves a wide capacity of adaptation.
F.B. I guess it becomes a matter of fluidity and trust in each other. When there is trust, having a clear-cut role becomes less relevant: the team relies on the sense of responsibility and work ethics of each member. Regarding work ethics, what brought you to repeatedly combine your freelancing with working as a part-time employee in institutions?
M.M. This is interesting. The first part of my career brought me to the marketing and advertising industry: working in big companies taught me about processes and in agencies taught me a lot about management and teamwork. In that period I developed valuable abilities in terms of organisation and effective problem solving. When I later entered the field of photography, this contributed to my adaptable and multitasking approach. Also, having a broad network of people working in different positions was highly relevant as it has opened the doors for invitations to contribute on multiple projects. And as I said before, when we work for a Brazilian photo-festival, normally we don’t have a budget to be paid the whole year, so this allowed me to use part of my time on different projects as a freelancer. The reality of the art world in Brazil is that to earn a living, one has to multitask. It is part of our normality. This is very rich for me because it extends the limits of the jobs.
Federica Belli
