The photographs that Alicia D’Amico took in the working-class neighborhoods of the 80s arrive at the Beaux-Arts

The National Museum of Fine Arts opens on Thursday March 2, at 7 p.m., the exhibition It could be me. Alicia D’Amico and photography as a collective experiencewhich brings together 46 images by the Argentine artist included in a historical sociological essay from the 1980s on the daily life of the popular sectors of Buenos Aires and the surrounding area.

Organized by the artist and researcher Agustina Triquelthe exhibition recreates the book it could be meconducted by sociologists and researchers Elizabeth Jelin there Pablo Villa in 1987. This publication recalls the link between the social sciences and photography, based on the photos of Alicia D’Amico (1933-2001), responsible for recording fieldwork.

“We are pleased to present at Bellas Artes an exhibition by Alicia D’Amico, one of the most remarkable Argentine photographers of the 20th century. Through her works, we see her sensitive and humanistic gaze, and her interest in the social context, the nascent feminist cause and literature, among other subjects,” she says. Andres Dupratdirector of the Museum.

“Originally published in 1987, in the early years of the return to democracy, it could be me This is a hard post to categorize – expresses trick–. Jelin there Villa They then proposed to make a book which, on the one hand, would give an account of a sociological investigation on the daily life of the urban popular sectors and which, in turn, would be integrated by the photographs used during the fieldwork, which were central to the practice of research itself, but escaping the simple formula of the dominant photo-illustration”.

“To make this trip, the first decision was to choose a photographer to join the team: nothing more and nothing less than Alicia D’Amico“, adds the curator. In the publication, the images function as a trigger: from them, the story of various actors about themselves and their environment emerged, since the interviewees also shared the ideas, interpretations and feelings that the photographs provoked. in them. In the always open dialogue between image and word, the sensitive gaze of one of the most important photographers in the country merges with the active role of the protagonists around her own image. This generated that the work of the artist took on a new meaning and transcended the mere visual support.

D’Amico’s photographic dossier is organized into six chapters, which address issues such as the different ways of earning a living for the urban popular sectors, migration, life in democracy, the successive situations of waiting and the relationship of women at leisure.

“If a book is a living organism – says the curator – the vitality of it could be me resides in this multiplicity of encounters that it offers, of the spaces in which it weaves its way and of the ephemeral games that it activates. In the hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts, it adds another horizon to the chain: it strengthens the emotions and communities around this book, and allows new imaginations and questions to encounter its images and its words. .

After its publication, the book was distributed free of charge in working-class neighborhoods, neighborhood clubs, neighborhood associations and workplaces. it could be me was reissued in 2018, with an additional volume that includes reflections, analysis and memoirs of Jelin there Villawith texts by other visiting scholars.

The photographs collected also highlight the aesthetic-political imprint of various projects which D’Amico has been developing since the mid-1980s: in addition to representing the popular sectors, it is interested in social struggles such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and organizes feminist photographic workshops.

Alicia D’Amico She graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1953 and then studied visual arts in Paris for a year thanks to a grant from the French government. His photographic training began in 1957 in his father’s studio, Louis D’Amicoand continued with Anne-Marie Heinrich. In his early days, he took part in the photoclub circuit.

Between 1960 and 1985 he had a studio with Sara Facio, where he dedicated himself to portraits and worked for newspapers and magazines in Argentina, Europe and the United States. This collaboration has resulted in books such as Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (1968) y Humanitarian (1977). She was co-founder of the photographic publishing house La Azotea (1973) – to which she remained linked until 1986 – and of the Argentine Council of Photography (1979), in which she participated until 1987. She also participated in the creation of Lugar de Mujer, a feminist organization that emerged in the early 80s.

At the same time, he also develops committed work in other claims and sectors: works on the Mapuche people, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo or the popular sectors, the latter published in the book by Elizabeth Jelin and Pablo Vila on which the current exhibition at the MNBA.

*The exhibition can be visited until April 2, 2023 in room 42 on the second floor of the Museum, located at Av. del Libertador 1473, City of Buenos Aires. Days and times: Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; On Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., admission is free.

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