Traces of the Unseen Volume 43: Photography, Violence, and Modernization in Early Twentieth-Century Latin America

Photography was used to document the processes of modernization in turn-of-the-century Brazil and the Amazon, and Carolina SÁ Carvalho's book explores how this visual evidence of violence was framed, captioned, cropped, and circulated. It also considers photography as a technology through which modern aspirations, moral inclinations, imagined futures, and lost pasts were represented, critiqued, and mourned.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2023
Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Photography, as a powerful technology, played a significant role in documenting, creating, and understanding the processes of modernization that unfolded in turn-of-the-century Brazil and the Amazon region. At the dawn of the 20th century, photography emerged not only as a product of modernity but also as a widely accessible medium for capturing the transformative effects of modernization.

In her groundbreaking book, "Traces of the Unseen: Photography, Violence, and Modernization in Early Twentieth-Century Latin America," Carolina SÁ Carvalho delves into the intricate relationship between photography and the processes of violence and modernization in the Amazon and beyond the borders of Brazil. Through a meticulous analysis of individual photographs and their integration into larger multimedia assemblages, Carvalho explores how photography was used to document the devastating consequences of infrastructure development and extractive capitalist expansion.

By examining the framing, captioning, cropping, and circulation of these visual evidence of violence, Carvalho sheds light on how it was constructed, interpreted, and disseminated to increasingly connected urban audiences. This pedagogical approach of teaching viewers how to see generated a new understanding of the traces of violence within the broader context of modernization.

"Traces of the Unseen" draws upon a rich tapestry of works by influential thinkers such as Flavio de Barros, Euclides da Cunha, Roger Casement, Claude LÉvi-Strauss, and Mario de Andrade to situate photography at the center of modernity, encompassing its diverse and contested meanings. Moreover, Carvalho locates historically specific practices of seeing within the geopolitical peripheries of capitalism, offering a nuanced understanding of photography as a technology that mediated modern aspirations, moral inclinations, imagined futures, and lost pasts.

Through her meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Carvalho invites us to consider photography as a powerful tool for documenting, critiquing, and mourning the complexities of modernity. Her book serves as a valuable contribution to the field of photography studies, as well as to broader discussions about the intersection of violence, power, and representation in the modern world.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780810145412