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.’