Mapa acima, rio abaixo: rastros e vestígios na construção do fotolivro Araguaia

Abstract

This research investigates the construction of the Araguaia photobook as a way of articulating memory and visual narrative about the Araguaia Guerrilla (1972-1974), one of the most brutal and silenced chapters of the military dictatorship in Brazil. From the perspective of a/r/tography, which integrates the practices of an artist, researcher and educator, the study explores how photography can be used to revisit collective memories, especially those marked by trauma and oppression. The project is based on images captured in the field, diaries and conversations with peasants who lived through this historic period. During the pandemic, by refocusing on the material already collected, the research found a methodology inspired by Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin, where photographs, juxtaposed with historical documents, create a dialog between past and present. The photobook thus becomes a space to give voice to silenced memories, using photography not just as a record, but as an act of resistance and re-signification. The anachronistic montage challenges the linearity of official history, proposing a critical and sensory reading that connects the viewer with the stories and scars of a territory marked by state violence. By constructing this visual narrative, the work seeks not only to recover an erased past, but also to propose new forms of engagement with historical memory through art.