Estância em exposição : fotografia e memória urbana na mostra “171 anos do Júbilo Cultural, Estância pela lente do fotógrafo Ricardo Martins” (2019)

Abstract

This study analyzes the images that composed the exhibition “171 years of Cultural Jubilee: Estância through the lens of photographer Ricardo Martins”, held in 2019 in the municipality of Estância (SE), Brazil. The research is grounded in the understanding of photography as a visual language and as a device for mediating urban memory, investigating how these visual productions contribute to the construction of meanings about the city, its landscapes, social practices, and uses of urban space.. The study examines fourteen photographs organized into thematic axes, encompassing territories, landscapes, riverside spaces, everyday life, religiosity, and popular festivities. Methodologically, it adopts a qualitative approach based on visual and contextual analysis, considering formal aspects, aesthetic choices, and the contexts of production, exhibition, and digital circulation. The photographs are understood as cultural objects that, by integrating an exhibition and circulating through digital media, function as mediating devices of urban memory. In this sense, the research demonstrates that the images do not merely document the city, but actively participate in the construction of representations, identities, and forms of belonging, shaping specific ways of seeing, narrating, and remembering Estância in contemporary times.