Orimoto and Magnum Rock São Paulo

I was lucky enough to visit Brazil this month, and my trip didn’t end with the passion fruit caprihinis served on the beach. I couldn’t leave the country without checking out the photography offerings in São Paulo—South America’s most populous and cosmopolitan city.

On an overcast Saturday afternoon on Paulista (São Paulo’s equivalent to New York’s Fifth Avenue), I started my art tour at the Caixa Cultural building. Caixa—the Brazilian bank that sponsors cultural projects—was showing “Magnum, 60 Anos,” a retrospective in honor of Magnum Photo’s 60th anniversary, curated by Joao Kulcsar.

Among the photo mix of mostly documentary journalism were Steve McCurry’s classic Afghan girl (both the 1975 and 2002 versions), Eve Arnold’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe in a 1960 studio session and Elliott Erwitt’s hard-not-to-love pet portrait, “Felix, Gladys and Rover.” Of course, no Magnum showing would be complete without a gratuitous Martin Parr American flag on-the-ass shot.

View the entire Magnum gallery here.

A few blocks up from the Caixa building is the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo Museum of Art). After two floors of both classical and contemporary art (including inspiring painter Brazilian Candido Portinari), I moseyed down to the museum’s ground level.

The entire floor was devoted to Tatsumi Orimoto, a Japanese performance artist and photographer. His  series “Art Mama” is immediately intriguing, with documentary portraits of his elderly mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s and depression and is under his care. While some of the images are inevitably sad—his mother needing help bathing—Orimoto also brings out her sense of humor. One portrait invites her to pose in a cardboard box—and she does—while others show her in exaggerated shoes, eating soup or laughing with her friends.

Orimoto’s other series—in my opinion, less compelling—was Bread Man, where he tied loaves of bread to his face, and photographed himself among different people in different countries and cultures. According to the museum’s Web site: “The basic principle, according to Orimoto, is approaching the East and West: the bread as symbols to establish communication and integration between the two parts of the world.”

I see Orimoto's point with "Bread," but my vote's with his  "Mama."

 

Top photo © Jessica Gordon

Bottom photo courtesy of MASP © Tatsumi Orimoto

Recipe of passionfruit caprihini: passion fruit pulp, sugar, sweet rum.

A Travel Photography Contest with Fabulous Prizes!

Everyone loves taking pictures while on vacation. And what could possibly be better than winning a prize for one of those pictures?

    Small Luxury Hotels of the World launches its Inaugural Worldwide Photography Competition, asking travelers to submit their most inspired moments caught on film. The contest (completely online) will run from March 17, 2008 to July 31, 2008. Entrants will have the opportunity to upload 10 images and all photographs will be viewable in an online gallery on the website.

    The four top prize winners will all receive a brand new Nikon D80 SLR 10.2 Camera with an 18-135mm zoom lens, plus, (in ranking order from first place to fourth place) one of four incredible prize getaways including two round-trip tickets on American Airline and…
•    A six-night Costa Rican adventure spent at both Hotel Punta Islita and Gaia Hotel & Reserve
•    A five-night English town & country experience spent at both The Capital Hotel in London and Luton Hoo Country Estate
•    A four-night Mexican escape at Esencia on the Riviera Maya
•    A three-night big apple experience in New York City at the Iroquois New York.

For more details and to enter the contest visit www.slhphotocontest.com