Abstract:
This dissertation explores the creative process behind the series Memory and
Heritage: Family Album, which uses digital collages to reframe 19th-century
photographs of Black individuals from the studios of Alberto Henschel and Marc Ferrez.
The original production of these photographers is analyzed for having crystallized
colonial strategies of typification and exotification. The collage technique is
approached through a theoretical framework that includes concepts such as
photomontage, cinematic montage, appropriation art, and the digitization of archives,
as discussed by Sayão. Critical fabulation, a methodology developed by Saidiya
Hartman, plays a central role in linking historical research with poetic creation. The
concept of the Encruzilhada and cruzo, developed by Leda Maria Martins and Luiz
Rufino, positions collage as a space of convergence and multiple meanings. Artists
such as Rosana Paulino, Yhuri Cruz, Gê Viana, Silvana Mendes, Herbert Amorim, and
Karina Nery are referenced for their work in dialogue with these themes. The final
chapters detail the creation process of the series, including the construction of
visualities inspired by everyday life and childhood memories. The dissertation presents
a synthesis of the texts included in the exhibition catalog, along with a summary of
interviews conducted with artists such as Del Nunes, Senegâmbia, Letícia Pantoja,
Astronauta de Mármore, and Moara Tupinambá, addressing topics such as the
presence of digital collage in the contemporary art circuit and the use of artificial
intelligence.
