“For me, photography should suggest — not insist, nor explain.”

Brassai

“My father was from São Paulo
My grandfather from Pernambuco
My great-grandfather, from Minas
My great-great-grandfather from Bahia
My master, sovereign
Was Antonio Brasileiro”

Paratodos, Chico Buarque de Holanda

In 1993, Chico composed this song evoking his ancestors — a sequence honoring a lineage of Brazilian composers and singers “of his time,” ending with a greeting to the future: “évoé, jovens à vista”.

It was from this Brazilian spirit that the exhibition was conceived.
He imagined the possibility of a country, searching its own past, its stories, its negations, its crossings, its misunderstandings... We solve things by taking risks.

To tell this story, the Silvas who are also Hortas come forward: Silva — forest, bush, wilderness. And Horta e Silva, a surname deeply rooted in Brazil, a legacy of colonization, shared by presidents, by the Old Republic and the present one, by Portuguese nobility, and by millions of anonymous histories.

A total of thirty works were presented, of which twenty-four are by Alexandre. They are grouped into three major series, plus isolated photographs.

They cover cities and circuits, called here postal routes, evoking postcards of Brazil (even if such postcards no longer exist).

• Ten from “Doce Carolina / São Paulo”

• One: “Alameda Itu / São Paulo” (canvas)

• Eight from “Aves / Foz do Iguaçu”, including a harpy eagle

• Four from “Minas / Cidades Históricas”, such as “Ouro Preto,” “Sabará,” and “Espectros / Tiradentes” (canvas)

• And one “Window of the Soul”

Regarding the photographs — repeating here what I wrote about Alexandre in 2017: “His work hinges on astonishment — the instant of wonder that suspends time. His photography engages with Wittgenstein’s proposition: “What can be shown cannot be said.” What can be shown, the observer sees. That is all that must be said.

Rafael Guanaes