The Activist Ethnography of Vincent Carelli
PFA Artist in Residence
Cultural representation has come to be as much a matter of visual autonomy as political participation. The ability to shape how one's culture is viewed-what images are rendered, what images are withheld-translates as a form of power, or at least the beginnings of self-determination. It was a keen awareness of the power of imagemaking that inspired Brazilian Vincent Carelli, then a photographer and indigenous rights activist, to join the São Paulo-based group Centro de Trabalho Indigenista. There, Carelli founded Video in the Villages, a project to bring an understanding of media technology to indigenous peoples struggling to preserve their way of life. Now an esteemed ethnographer, Carelli will spend ten days in residence at PFA and on campus, screening his enthralling works on October 17, 19, and 24, and meeting with students to explore his challenging style of visual anthropology. Video in the Villages grew directly out of the experiences the Waiãpi Indians had with ethnographers who were documenting their culture. It was apparent that self-styled, indigenous media making was essential as a remedy for the images of their culture brought to the world through the distorting lens of outsiders. Countless visits to Amazonian villages to conduct workshops have resulted in the creation of videoworks capturing indigenous culture as an act of (self-) preservation. These works, which began with the Waiãpi and Kayapó but now include such tribal groups as the Zo'é, Xavante, Enauwene-Nawe, and Parakatêjê, have been employed as documents in a political discourse concerning autonomy, land rights, and cultural practice. Video in the Villages has had a profound effect on native image, intertribal relations, and negotiations with government institutions in Brazil. Vincent Carelli will screen his own subtly activist, beautifully crafted documentaries, as well as works made by indigenous people who are pursuing mediamaking as a self-initiating vocation. Together these videoworks form a constellation illustrating the diverse uses of media, from aesthetic representation to cultural tool.
Steve Seid
Video Curator