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OLYMPIC FAVELA

Friday, October 28 - 2:45PM to 3:30PM

Beginning in 2012, Olympic Favela is an ongoing photography and video project that visualizes the effects of forced removal of residents in 14 of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, implemented by the city government in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games.


The project consists of two types of portraiture: The first type is environmental portraiture of the residents in front of their homes, marked for removal.


The second type is directed imagery of residents posing with flaming emergency torches in their communities. In these images the residents are no longer a subject that I look upon; their role in the image becomes active as they embrace the opportunity to represent their community, their struggle, and their resistance. Referencing imagery ranging from Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People to news imagery of the Arab Spring, the residents' gesture and use of the torch invoke ideas of liberation, independence, resistance, protest and crisis, whilst making use of the core symbol of the Olympic Games—the torch.


My presentation will include discussion of:


- Reasons for creating two types of portraiture with the goal of producing images with campaign-character that draw the viewer into the subject matter.


- Concept and construction of the torch images; contextualized with art-historical and contemporary image-references.


- Thoughts about possible conflict in treating real social rights issues with interpretive imagery to create audience awareness.


- Evolution of the work during the past 4 years, shifting to include visuals of the changed landscapes and new housing residents find themselves in.


- International audience reactions received, and media coverage the work has produced since publication of the book OLYMPIC FAVELA, also in the context of a crowdfunding campaign to support the book-publication.


It is the goal of my presentation to discuss both the challenges of documentary portraiture as a vehicle for social commentary and its opportunities to affect public awareness.

speaker

Marc  Ohrem-Leclef
Marc Ohrem-Leclef

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