Pele Preta\/Skin Black was the first of Maureen Bisilliat\u2019s work to be seen by the general public. In it, she photographed a black woman \u2013 who in her own words was \u2013 \"a proud looking woman who did not consider it beneath her to pose as a model\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O trabalho resultou numa exposi\u00e7\u00e3o no Museu de Arte Moderna de S\u00e3o Paulo, em 1966, e j\u00e1 antecipava muito de sua imag\u00e9tica pessoal, e, de certo modo, tamb\u00e9m a de outros importantes fot\u00f3grafos que seguiriam anos depois esta mesma vertente. Em entrevista a escritora Marta G\u00f3es, a psic\u00f3loga Eda Tassara, parceira de trabalho e amiga da fot\u00f3grafa, diz que \u201cnaquela \u00e9poca, fotografar uma modelo negra era uma inova\u00e7\u00e3o\u201d. Era um momento de forte debate intelectual, exposto pelo Cinema Novo e pelo Teatro de Arena. \u201cMaureen trouxe este debate para o territ\u00f3rio da est\u00e9tica e afirmou sensualmente a beleza dos tipos populares\u201d, afirma Tassara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cO corpo humano, minha porta de entrada na pintura, acabou por me levar \u00e0 fotografia\u201d, avalia Maureen. Junto com as imagens da modelo, o ensaio retrata tamb\u00e9m um menino negro (em algumas imagens, como um \u201cmenino-anjo\u201d com asas brancas) posando sozinho ou com um anci\u00e3o e\/ou com a modelo. Ex-votos tamb\u00e9m integram o ensaio, interagindo com os personagens e seus corpos, num delicado roteiro banhado por uma luz magistral. As fotografias foram feitas no interior de S\u00e3o Paulo, em S\u00e3o Jos\u00e9 do Rio Pardo, e na Capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maureen\u2019s photographic projects have always been designed and edited using strong visual sequences that encapsulate the photographer\u2019s vision of real and imaginary universes, composing what she called photographic equivalences of the literary works that have inspired her work. Maureen continues to work on the PELE PRETA\/SKIN BLACK, project but now in reverse, using her images to try to find texts by authors who are open to dialogue with her inaugural photographic series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Maureen\u2019s own words, \"I value images linked to writing, carefully chosen phrases that melodically define the orchestral score. In books like those of Diane Arbus (1923-1971) and Nan Goldin (1953), there is this kind of orchestration: rhythms, silences, chords, pauses. Words, chosen from literary production or lifted from biographical text, are distilled and intimate, and come from within. It is almost like writing with images and seeing with words.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sergio Burgi<\/strong>
Curator
Instituto Moreira Salles<\/p>\n\n\n