Ambitious Project, by Susan Conley

All of Taves’ skills came together in what can be considered her most ambitious project to date, City of Children (Cidade dos Meninos). It initiated with her, and she says it ‘conquered me, and then everyone who embraced this project. It gathered people together who did not know each other, resources that did not exist — and met the deadline!’

In 2001, the organization, the Divine Providence Human Promotion Association created the Sao Vicent de Paulo City of Children which provided a day of food and festivity for some of the Ribeirao das Neves’ poorest children. Taves was there to document many of the faces of these children as they were taken out of their daily cares for a day.

The work was originally shown in exhibition, and through a serendipitous event, and the focus and determination that would come to characterise her work as a curator, Taves brought together the myriad people necessary to produce a book.

On a flight to Sao Paulo, Taves mentioned the City of Children project in passing to a fellow passenger, who in turn put her in touch with Camilla Schahin, an editor and designer. The two became project partners, and proceeded to secure a publishing partner, some finding from Western Union, and sponsorship from the American College in Dublin, who hosted the exhibition and the launch of the volume.

Current projects include Women Living in Ireland, inspired in part by an experience Taves had during a course which covered various aspects of female sexuality and spirituality. “I invited some of the women on the course to model for me with the idea of exploring ‘the nature of woman’ in front of the camera.  As a result, I got the first group photographed!”

Like all of Taves’ oeuvre, this idea not only is feeding another series of images (the follow up to this project will be ‘Women in the Workplace’), it is also creating yet another bridge between Brazil and Ireland. ‘In 2008 in Brazil, I had the chance to organise an exhibition for the occasion of the International Women’s day,’ she explains. ‘As a result I started to visualise the possibility of expanding the idea in Ireland. This is my way to work with a subject: as soon as the idea appeared I tried as much as possible to develop the same theme in both countries, to extend it to creating a link between two cultures.’

Taves Curator, by Susan Conley

Taves humourously recounts a typical day on every project she curates with this list: ‘Select the images. Phone calls. Internet searches. Lots of coffee.’

There is a certain amount of curating that any artist does, when they set about editing their work, whether it be paintings or prints. For Taves, however, this action has gone beyond private necessity and has turned into public intitative.

She didn’t shy from the learning curve that curating presented. ‘Staying in charge of all the processes made me realise how intensive and demanding is to put an exhibition together,’ she says. ‘I realised that to be a curator requires much more than just choosing images: it involves lots of reading, searching on the web, and creating and utilising a very good network of contacts.  Some of these skills were new to me.’

Taves will continue to call upon art dealers and curators to promote her own work, but is keen to use her organizational skills to work with established photographers, as well as up-and-comers. ‘Curating opens up the artistic world to me, and in doing so makes me more mature and in tune with my work,’ she says. ‘It keeps me learning and plugged in.’

When did you start curating?

When did you start curating, and what was the first show you did? 
Tell me all the ins and outs, the challenges, the discoveries, the triumphs.

How it started:

I started to curate my own work in 1998.  A friend of mine, a graphic designer, encouraged me to combine the celebration of my birthday with my first solo exhibitions. 

Sponsorship:

The challenge of this particular exhibition was to  convince professional business people to sponsor my own birthday!

Venue:

I got the venue as free in a Japanese restaurant (NIGIRI) and it was such a successful exhibition that the owners of the place decided to dedicate part of the restaurant for use in promoting art from local artists. 

Prints and Images:

All images were printed in a manual process involving two laboratories black and white and colour. The theme was interesting   enough, it was a combination of fashion catwalk and music show.  Lots of well known people turned up, and definitely it was a special occasion to dress up. 

Team:

I was dealing with people I really trusted, and for that perhaps was the first time I had the opportunity to treat my work in a professional way.

Public Relations:

A PR company was working to support the event sending press releases for journalists. I had a lot of good material published, lots of articles and a video with special moments.

Promotion of Work:

The whole exhibition was produced very well for a first show, but it was a learning exercise and I gained a lot of experience putting the whole event together. Some details like for example, not advertising (by that I mean,  to local dealers) the images as well as I could have done.

Can you talk about the things you learned when doing this, things that you didn’t realize or hadn’t experienced, as an artist?

Staying in charge of all the processes made me realise how intensive and demanding is to put together an exhibition. To curate my own work in a way is easy because my choice for the images is by heart in addition to looking for highlights in my style. 

I realised that to be a curator requires much more than just choosing images, it involved lots of reading, searching on the web and having and utilising a very good network of contacts.  Some of these skills were new to me.

How does the curating experience influence your own art?

As a photographer I think my art influenced the curate process.  When I visualized my own style as a photographer and my passion for photography plus my skill to organize exhibitions, I had a great desire to further my career.  Despite the difficulty I had in transitioning from film to digital, I had more time to concentrate on my own body of work.

I realised curating  is about writing and explaining the complete process of the project as a photographer. But as a curator dealing with another artists work its all about searching and understanding the background of the artists. Both have a positive influence in my work.

why do you want to be a curator in the first place? Wouldn’t you rather just have someone else facilitate your art and the art of others?   

I do want art dealers or curators to promote my work, but having the chance to work with the new generation of photographers  and highly skilled  traditional photographers  makes me  fascinated with the curating work  process.  I’ve developed my own style as a photographer and been a curator of my own work. I know what catches my eye. For that reason I will open my own gallery in the future to promote Brazilian photographers in Ireland.

 I am guessing that curating creates community — do you think this is true? Can you talk about the need for community that artists have?

Yes. Definitely there is a community of curators. It’s great to be able to share our experience and knowledge and information amongst us.

       






Can you talk about how curating opens up the artistic world for you, how it keeps you plugged in, how it keeps you learning? If those things are true…?

Being part of this artist world means reading, searching on the internet, attending lectures, seminars, conferences and setting up my own web presence, and at least but of no lesser importance it’s to be a member of organisations and associations related to curating and of course attending as many exhibitions as possible. Curating opens up the artistic world to me, and in doing so makes me more mature and in tune with my work, this keeps me learning and plugged in.

Tell me more about the exhibition Celebrating Easter in Brazil

Did you take pictures of the images made from the sawdust?

Yes, I did.

In the beautiful preserved baroque town of Ouro Preto local people work through the night to carpet the Resurrection Procession route for hundred metres, with Easter motifes made out of coloured sawdust. These decorations make for a unique spectacular at Easter. 

I though it would be a great idea to promote this event organizing an exhibition abroad with this unique theme.

Well, the process wasn’t something easy to go through. The idea was to organize literally a photographic procession. The first step was to find a flat material to print an image. I did not want to go for traditional photographic prints.

Eventually I found the R35 Company in the heart of Dublin, which unfortunately closed down a few years later. At that time, the process to print an image straight to a flat PVC board was quite new and I was impressed with the quality of the material and happy enough to go ahead with this supplier.

The second was to find a company who could made a thick wooden stick to be attached to the back of each image, making it possible to hold the banner.

The third and last part was to get the base for the wooden stick for the banner.

I remember seeing some construction work being carried out at Trinity College. I approached one of the builders who were in charge and he donated some bricks. I used the bricks to construct Individual stands to hold each image.

When all the 20 banners was erected at the church, candles had been allocated around each display creating a warm and relaxing atmosphere

What was your concept behind turning the images in the sawdust into images that were to be carried in procession?

We are talking about a catholic event in Ouro Preto; very widely respected. With lots of pilgrims attending the holy celebration, people coming from long distances to enjoy the event. This was a unique opportunity to see the beautiful work made by the local people. I was there with my camera and I knew if I had to exhibit the images it should be in a different format.  When the pilgrims were walking in a procession trough the sawdust making a pathway, I thought of the idea for a different type of procession one where the individuals held the images taken of the religious procession.  

How did the people involved respond to the images, and the procession?

Respect and admiration, two words to translate them all. The procession happened inside of Trinity College Chapel. The photos pictured the gospel words.  The chaplain selected a suitable gospel to be read out during the celebration. 

was responsible for pick extracts from the gospel to be reading during the solemner celebration. The chorus sang beautifully, it was a day to bless the palms.

The banners were split into 5 groups.  The Capoeira Group in Dublin was responsible for the flow of the control. I held the last banner and found it a very emotional experience. The congregates were amazed with it all. When the ceremony was over I had the chance to chat with the guests and had very positive feed back from them.  People were extremely curious about the Ouro Preto town, the process with sawdust and etc.

Elis photographer. by Susan Conley

Ultimately, Taves chose Ireland for its contrasts to Brazil, and was lead to our shores by her sense of adventure. ‘I found the pace of life relaxing, the people charming, and the land enchanting.  Since 2001 I have visited several times, and have had numerous exhibitions of my work which contrasts the two countries.’

Photography Ireland is one such project, which is her ongoing exploration of the differences between Brazil and Ireland. It was also an opportunity to immerse herself in the Irish culture, and describes her effort to create images of ‘Ireland’s traditional celebrations, music, people, different colours, architecture, chaotic traffic and so on, as the most challenging path in her career.’

The project was funded by the Irish Embassy in Brasilia, and sponsored her shows in Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, and Salvador. The Brazilian embassy in Dublin would be an equally important connection, as she brought images from her homeland to her new place of residence with Celebrating Easter in Brazil, which has shown in Trinity Chapel, Trinity College and the Aleijadinho Museum in Ouro Preto, Brazil.

‘In the beautifully preserved baroque town of Ouro Preto,’ Taves explains, ‘Local people worked through the night to carpet the Resurrection Procession route for several hundred metres, with Easter motifs made out of coloured sawdust, and I had the idea to organise a photographic procession made by banners, with the people from Capoeira holding them.’

This is a sight that many of us would have never had the opportunity to see, had Taves not been present to record the images of this beautiful work for posterity. Not only did she find a unique way to reproduce these images — printed directly onto PVC board in order that they could then be mounted on wooden sticks and thus turned into banners — but the exhibition in Trinity Chapel honoured the sacred roots of the images by incorporating song and the holy word of the gospel, resulting in a moving and creative way for people to experience photography.

Elis Taves, by Susan Conley

Brazilian-born photographer and curator Elis Taves brought her cameras, and her attention to detail, to Ireland 7 years ago. Her vision as a creator of images and her meticulousness as a compiler of images combines to make her skill set as unique as her own portfolio.

Taves’ hometown of Belo Horizonte, in the southeastern region of Brazil, is as different as Ireland as can be, at least in terms of population: the metropolitan area alone boasts a population of 5.4 million. Yet, the Bray resident has surrounded herself with the Wicklow mountains, much in the same way that her home place was surrounded by the Minas Mountains. She finds many similarities between the two places, and says that, like Ireland, her country of origin ‘has a lot of history and conflict in its past. There are a lot of traditions which are enjoyed and well known throughout the world, for example in music, food, language, culture and sport.’

Few questions to Elis, by Susan Conley

Where were you born, and where did you live growing up?

I was born and grew up in Belo Horizonte the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third-largest metropolitan area in the country. Belo Horizonte has a population of over 2.4 million, or almost 5.4 million in the official Metropolitan Area. The city features a mixture of contemporary and classical buildings, and hosts several modern Brazilian architectural icons. The city is built on several hills and is completely surrounded by mountains.


Were you always creative as a child? Would you have tried other mediums before you chose photography?

Yes, as a child I enjoyed participating in various art  and craft related projects such as  photo montages and collecting  images for scrap books and photo albums.  I always thought one day I would be an interior designer or would choose some form of creative path in my life.

Did you have any mentors while you were learning your craft? 

During my apprentice years I gained enough confidence and experience to find my own particular style.  I was determined to continue using my own techniques even though my tutor didn't necessary agree with my photographic personality.  I stubbornly persevered, as I believed I had a skill, which was unique.  

What other photographer's work so you admire? How have they influenced your own work?

I admire different photographers for different reasons; man ray for his surrealist influence. I consider my images to be very abstract as well.  Surprisingly I found my work reflective of man Rays style even though I had not heard of him until I started researching photographers.  Ansell Adams. No connection with my work but I admire his patient and his precision to get the right exposure.  

What brought you to Ireland? how long have you lived here?

For personal reasons my sense of adventure  drove me to Ireland The first country in Europe I visited and found here a nice place to search about the contrasts from my own country. I found the pace of life relaxing and the people charming and land enchanting.  Since 2001 I have visited several times  and have had numerous exhibitions of my work which contrasts the two countries.

What similarities do you see between Ireland and Brazil? 

I can’t really compare the two countries, but I can tell you similarities from my home town to Ireland. Like Ireland it has a lot of History and conflict in its past. A lot of traditions which are enjoyed and well known throughout the world for example in music, food, language, culture and sport. Ireland has changed dramatically in the last few decades and transformed into a modern European country. My home town/city has also changed a lot over the years.