Dulce Soares: Windows and facades

Instituto Moreira Salles of São Paulo showcases “Vitrines e fachadas, dois ensaios paulistanos de Dulce Soares”, an exhibition which display two series made ​​by photographer Dulce Soares ( 1943) in São Paulo: Barra Funda, 1977 and Wedding dresses of 1978- 1979.

The 160 images that will be on view are part of the IMS collection since 2003 and are displayed together for the first time.
The early 1970s was a time when major infrastructure projects and high real estate speculation transformed the São Paulo countryside. In the same period, the concept of heritage in Brazil was expanded to include the whole of a landscape, not just isolated monuments. In 1976, the Secretary of State for Culture established the Commission of Photography and Applied Arts, in order to support the achievement of pictorials in São Paulo.
The following year, the Commission invited Dulce shooting the Barra Funda, as part of a city documentation project, which also included the Light Station, photographed by Antonio Carlos d’ Avila, and Brás, recorded by Cristiano Mascaro and Pedro Martinelli. The invitation came from photographers Claude Kubrusly and Maureen Bisilliat, which, besides being the committee, coordinated the activities.

Photographic walks through the neighborhood Dulce reinforce the pedestrian point of view and offer a counterpoint to major road works that transformed the region. The work started with a survey of the historical significance of places and deployed in the discovery of certain building typologies. The images record the history of the neighborhood through architecture.

In this work, Dulce elaborates her method based on repetition and alternation. By highlighting typological elements in the landscape of the neighborhood and organize them into sets, the photographer allows to compare them and to emphasize its peculiarities, while the features as part of a context. The photos, made ​​during almost a year, resulted in Esquinas test, facades and interiors exposed at MASP in 1979 and published by the Official Press in 1982.