Ricardo Teles

Terras de Preto

August 2 - September 2, 2012

Terras de Preto, also known as quilombos, are rural Afro-Brazilian communities with centuries-old origins in the colonial slave trade. These locations share complex histories of resistance in Brazil: runaway slaves seeking autonomy and solidarity together formed communal settlements, sometimes growing to number in the tens of thousands. Photographer Ricardo Teles documented nine of these communities in the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Goiás, Bahia, Pernambuco, Maranhão, and Pará as they exist today for his "Terras de Preto" project. Blue Sky will present 22 prints from Teles' black-and-white series along with eight color images from "Encantados," Teles' current documentary project about the reinvention of African identity as expressed in contemporary Afro-Brazilian events and celebrations.

Ricardo Teles was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1966 and has lived and worked in São Paulo since 1994. He has published two volumes of photography: Saga - A Portrait of German Colonies in Brazil (1997) and Terras de Preto (2002). The former was awarded the Martius Staden Award by the Martius Staden Foundation and the latter received the Ayrton Senna Grand Award for Journalism. Teles' photographs are in the collections of the São Paolo Museum of Modern Art and Pirelli/MASP at the São Paulo Art Museum.