A Expedição:

>> Rafael Hess
>> Deyson Gilbert
>> Júlio Meiron
>> Luisa Nóbrega
>> Marcia Vaitsman
>> Nabor Kisser

Rafael Hess

www.rafaelhess.com

Rafael began his studies at the Lasar Segall Museum in 1990, parallel to his high school. In this period he works as assistant of many photographers in São Paulo and also for a photo laboratory.

1992 he worked for Abril Publisher photographing for the magazines: Quatro Rodas, Playboy, Casa Claudia, Capricho, Claudia Cozinha, etc.

He studies Agronomy at the State University of São Paulo and right after the graduation he moves to London where he works in different projects of photography.

Back in Brazil in 1994, Rafael begins the project „Pixaim“, with local communities in the region of the São Francisco river, receiving for this project the art grant VITAE in 1997. During this same year he works for SABA Agency in New York.

Rafael receives the FURNARTE national prize for photography and is granted by CAPES foundation to make the „One Year Certificate Program - Documentary Photography and Photojournalism“ at the International Center of Photography (ICP), in New York.

Still in New York, during 2001, he teaches photography in several institutions such as at The League Treatment Center, St. Francis Residence, High School of Graphic and Communication Arts and at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He also works for several magazines such as the Mexican Arcana, the Dutch De Groene Amsterdammer and for the Brazilian View Magazine. He also works with the photographer Roberto Del Barrio.

Rafael moves to Paris in 2002, where he studies Fine Arts at the Paris-8. At the same time he makes a photographic essay at the Airport of Paris. 2005, he teaches photography at the School of Fine Arts of Luang Prabang, Laos, with the project „The Quiet in the Land“, organized by France Morin and the Paris-8 - www.artamplitude.net. From this project there is the book: „Destination Luang Prabang“.

Still during 2005, Rafael receives the scholarship Erasmus to study at the Humboldt Universität in Berlin, where he finished his Master I. 2006, he receives a grant from the German Government to study at the Kunsthöchschüle-Weissensee.

Now he lives and works in São Paulo, developing projects of Fine Arts and of environment protection. He is constantly going back to the region of the São Francisco River, somehow keeping on the process he began back in 1994, but by every passage, he has another approach, always though using photography, video and image appropriation.

This river is called „the river of the national unity“ and represents all the ethnic groups from Brazil, because it melts the most human ancients to the ethnic and political structure of the recent Brazil. It brings the arid parts nearer to the coast and melts folks and cultures. This river is also important for the social and economic reality of our country.

„A river is always passing by. I have passed many times through it. Every time I go there I develop a new work and a new view. During the photographic essays I have made since 1994 about the margin local communities from this region, I began to collect photographies made by the local people.“

As a result of this collecting process, he has a large archive of photographies done by the local people. Using this photo collection, he has made several installations with this material. One example is the video project based on these still images which can be seen as a preview at his web site: www.rafaelhess.com.

This video will be projected on a large screen on the boat (anchored or in movement) during the nights of the trip on the São Francisco. The photographic essays should be shown to the population in places where these pictures were shot. During the project Expedição Francisco, this photography essay will continue and, in his opinion, this moment (mainly because of the polemic about the water transposition of the river) is especially important for this essay, because the perspective humans-river will change, even more, when we know the importance of the river for in their lives.