Critical Review: Photography and Brazilian Cultural Representation

This report offers a critical review of an article discussing the photographic work of Mario de Andrade, focusing on his travel diaries and his artistic approach to capturing the essence of Brazil. The review examines Andrade's use of photography, particularly his innovative techniques and his keen observation of cultural dynamics. The report highlights how Andrade utilized photography to represent Brazilian culture, his use of a Kodak camera, and his focus on capturing the imagination of the people. It also explores his approach to identifying the signs of mixing and miscegenation and the importance of scientific ethnography. The review concludes that Andrade's photographic experiments successfully represented the cultural aspects of Brazil, demonstrating the value of art and creativity in documenting a country's heritage.

Critical review

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Critical Review refers to the way in which the overall analysis and interpretation of a
particular article can be done which will be highly useful in ensuring that the article can be
understood in a right manner effectively and efficiently (Cisneros, 2017). It can be highly helpful
in ensuring that the conclusions and recommendations can be derived in the right manner. This
Critical Review is based on the article of L.Martins, 'Mario de Andrade: photographic
experiment and living heritage', in Photography and Documentary Film in the making of Modern
Brazil. In this critical review, a detailed discussion will be made on the article.
MAIN BODY
The article speaks about the work of L.Martins. The work is related with the Travel Diary
of L.Martins. In it, the author states that Mario de Andrade has not been made for travelling after
all. He spent the three months in the summer of 1927 by travelling as taxi to the railway station
in Sao Paulo and states that he wants to abandon the comforts of his life so that he can travel to
the interiors of Brazil.
Unlike other modernists, Andrade had not travelled abroad before. Apart from a short
visit to lquitos he never would (James, 2019). Thus the article speaks about the travel adventures
of Andrade in Brazil. Andrade made a frequent use of camera to capture the different elements of
the world around him. He was a good photographer who used different types of methods and
techniques related with photography properly which helped in ensuring that he captured these
elements in the right manner.
The article talks a lot about the creative and innovative approach which was used by
Andrade to capture the photographs of the world around him in the right way. This was quite
helpful in ensuring that the photographs presented a true picture of Brazil in front of the people.
The work of Andrade helped in ensuring that Re-thinking of Brazil was done. The artistic
approach which was used by him in order to capture the photographs helped a lot in ensuring that
the imagination which he used would be helpful in building a new Brazil.
Andrade used to consider himself as an 'Apprentice Tourist'. He was a very keen observer
of the cross-cultural aspects of he social dynamics of encounter. This it can be said that he was a
keen learner who used to learn more about the different types of cultures. Thus, In this way it can
1

be said that this was quite helpful for him to be able to develop a deep sense of cultural
understanding.
The photographs which were taken by Andrade on the Brazil trip identified the different
types of viewpoints of the human beings. Thus, In this way it can be said that the photographs
helped a lot in ensuring that the culture of these human beings can be identified and assessed.
Thus the critical evaluation states that it is highly necessary to capture the imagination of
the people in the right manner (Maciel and et.al., 2017). Through the use of photographs,
Andrade was able to do the same. The wide culture of Brazil was truly reflected in the
photographs which he took. Thus, In this way it can be stated from the article that the different
types of photographs were quite helpful in understanding the culture of the country in detail.
Most of the photographs which Andrade took on the Brazil trip were taken with the use
of a Kodak Camera. Black and White photos were taken in relatively small prints which were
about 6.0 * 3.7 cm. Thus from the article it can be evaluated that Andrade was a person who was
quite fond of travelling to different types of locations in Brazil and liked to explore them in detail
by taking different photos with the use of his camera. Thus, it can be said that Andrade was a
person who was able to ensure that by making the use of his camera he took good photographs
which captured the imagination of the people. Thus this was helpful in presenting the travel
details to the world through the use of creative photographs.
Thus, rather than seeking out the regions of ethnic purity Andrade's quest was for a
progressive form of 'Brazilianness' for signs of mixing and miscegenation and for the modes of
description which were appropriate for them. Thus in this way it can be critically evaluated that
Andrade focused on different types of signs which were quite helpful in ensuring that regions in
which ethnic purity was present could be identified clearly. This helped a lot in leading towards
the deriving of purity in the right manner.
The article states that Andrade recognized the importance of scientific approach to
ethnography for the purpose of supporting dissemination in Brazil he was able to ensure that he
was able to clearly depart from Dina's rigid guidelines which were provided in the ethnographic
work. Thus it is stated in the article that Andrade made use of scientific approach and did not
necessarily follow the different types of rigid guidelines which were set.
Also, In the article it is clearly stated that the focus of Andrade was on the fact that the
people necessarily get to know more about Brazil principally from the people of Brazil. Thus, In
2

this way it can be said that the article clearly focuses on the photographs of Andrade which help
a lot in getting to know more about the interiors of Brazil. Therefore, In this way it can be said
that Andrade was able to put his focus on ensuring that the more detailed information on the
country can be accessed which can be quite helpful for the people in getting to know more about
the country in a right way.
The browsing of catalogue of the photographs which were taken by Andrade, it can be
stated that there is a long history of these photographs (Travassos, 2017). Thus through the
exploring of these photographs the art and culture associated with Brazil can be identified quite
clearly. Thus the article states that with the use of the photographic experiment, Andrade was
able to ensure that he was able to reproduce around him the modern Brazil imagined by him.
In Summary, it can be stated that the art and culture of a country can be identified
through the use of photographs. Therefore, it is quite necessary that the people of the country are
able to learn more about the art and culture in detail by exploring the different types of
photographs. Andrade was a passionate photographer who loved to take photographs while
travelling and therefore was able to present his views in the right manner through their use. Thus,
In this way it can be said that Andrade was a person who made the use of his creative and
innovative skills in such a manner which was quite helpful in ensuring that the he represented the
culture around him in the right way.
Thus according to the article, the photographic experiment of Andrade was successful as
it was helpful in using art and creativity in such a manner so that the representation of the
cultural aspects of Brazil can be done in a right way.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be stated that Critical Review refers to the way an
overall analysis and interpretation of the detailed aspects of an article can be done. This can be
helpful in ensuring that the development of better understanding skills can be done which can
lead towards the understanding the article in the right manner.
3

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Cisneros, O., 2017. “Tudo se entronca” Mário de Andrade and Luis Quintanilla’s Epistolary
Friendship. Luso-Brazilian Review. 54(1). pp.119-137.
James, S. E., 2019. Photography's Conflicting Modernisms and Modernities. A Companion to
Photography. pp.437-463.
Maciel, C. and et.al., 2017, September. Interacting with digital memorials in a cemetery: Insights
from an immersive practice. In 2017 Federated Conference on Computer Science and
Information Systems (FedCSIS) (pp. 1239-1248). IEEE.
Travassos, E., 2017. Um colóquio de bruxos: Mário de Andrade, Fernando Ortiz e a" música de
feitiçaria". Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology. 14(1).
4