Senac São Paulo
Senac São Paulo
Maíra Vieira
de Paula
Photographer, Teacher, and Researcher in the Expanded Field of Art History
About Me
I am a researcher in the expanded field of Art History concerned mainly with understanding how artists explore photographic appropriation in their practices.
I am currently a Ph.D. student at the Visual Arts Graduate Program of the University of São Paulo (PPGAV-USP). In my Ph.D. research, I investigate how Brazilian artist Rosana Paulino has appropriated and transformed the materiality, meanings, and effects of the photographic archives of Brazilian slavery, among other visual sources, such as her family albums. The renowned Brazilian essay magazine serrote awarded me an honorable mention at its 2020 National Essay contest for my essay on Paulino’s sculpture Still Mourning (Ainda a Lamentar) (2011), which I wrote with the initial findings of my study.
In my master’s, I studied self-portraits with readymade photographs created by Geraldo de Barros, one of the pioneers of Brazilian modernist photography. The research uncovered original data on the creative process of De Barros’ photographic works. It also identified mistakes in some of his works’ catalog data, modifying how they are now classified. Brazil’s top open-access digital database on Brazilian Art, the Itaú Cultural Visual Arts Encyclopedia, named my study as a fundamental reference regarding Barros in their 2021 Geraldo de Barros: Experimentações e Abstrações: Teacher’s Guidebook.
In 2021 I became a student affiliate of the Photography Network (PN). I presented a paper at their First Annual Symposium in 2021.
I am also a student affiliate of the Arte&Fotografia Study Group since 2016. My Ph.D. and M.A. advisor, Prof. Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli, is its founder and principal investigator.
Between 2010 and 2020, I worked as a professional photographer for renowned newspapers and magazines in Brazil, like the Caras magazine and the Valor Econômico newspaper.
From 2016 to 2019, I taught photography foundations and other certificate courses at the Senac Largo Treze in São Paulo. In addition, since 2015, I have taught outreach courses at different institutions, like Sesc-SP.
Either as a professional photographer, academic researcher, or teacher of certificate and outreach courses, I have dedicated my professional career to the Expanded Field of Art History because I believe in its centrality in our lives.
Education
Ph.D. in Visual Arts
São Paulo, Brazil, 2020/Current
University of São Paulo (USP)
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli
M.A. in Visual Arts
São Paulo, Brazil, 2016/2018
University of São Paulo (USP)
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli
Postgraduate Certificate Course in Photography
São Paulo, Brazil, 2013/2015
Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP-SP)
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Lívia Afonso de Aquino
B.A. in Social Communication
Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2005/2009
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG)
Journalism Major
Grants and Awards
Travel Grant
Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP)
Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History
Getty Foundation
(Rome; Florence; Milan, Italy, May-June 2023)
Art and Power: Decolonizing Art History
(Connecting Art Histories – The Getty Foundation)
Paper and Seminar Presentation
Travel Grant
L'Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA)
(Paris, France, January 2023)
Performativités noires. Archives des corps noirs dans l’art de la performance en Amérique latine : une esthétique diasporique ?
Paper Presentation
Travel Grant
Afro-Latin American Research Institute (ALARI)
Harvard University
Cambridge, USA, December 2022
ALARI Second Continental Conference on Afro-Latin American Studies
Paper Presentation
Travel Grant and Honorarium
Department of the History of Art & Architecture
Boston University
Boston, USA, 2022
African American Art History: Present Coordinates Symposium
Lecture Presentation
Travel Grant
Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Marburg, Germany, July 2022
Studientage für Fotografie: Medienbeziehungen der Fotografie
Paper Presentation
Travel Grant
Afro-Latin American Research Institute (ALARI)
Harvard University
Cambridge, USA, May 2022
Mark Claster Mamolen Dissertation Workshop on Afro-Latin American Studies
Thesis Chapter Presentation
Merit Research Scholarship for Ph.D Students
CAPES Foundation
São Paulo, Brazil, 2021/Current
Thesis’s title: To Research, To Select, To Manipulate, To Arrange, and To Display: Photographic Appropriation Strategies in Rosana Paulino’s Creative Process
Honorable Mention (4th Place)
Moreira Salles Institute’s (IMS) serrote Magazine
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2020
serrote’s 3rd National Essay Contest
Essay’s title: An anti-monument to the Bandeiras (Um antimonumento às Bandeiras)
published at serrote Magazine, n. 37, in March 2021
Merit Research Scholarship for M.A. Students
CAPES Foundation
São Paulo, Brazil, 2016/2018
Thesis’s title: The noir effect, the Rex Group, and the Mirror Reflection: Geraldo de Barros’ photographic self-portraits
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles and Essays
“Um antimonumento às Bandeiras”. serrote, n. 37, 2021
“O processo é a obra: alguns apontamentos sobre a série ‘Sobras’ de Geraldo de Barros”. Manuscrítica - Journal of Genetic Criticism, n. 42. São Paulo: Association of Researchers in Genetic Criticism (APCG) and the University of São Paulo Graduate Program in Foreign Languages and Translation (PPG-LETRA-USP), 2020
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
“Onde moram os monstros: museus, fotografia e o Monumento às Bandeiras na obra de Regina Silveira” [working title], in Monumento às Bandeiras: 70 anos [working title], Tadeu Chiarelli (ed.). Campinas: Grupo Editorial Mercado de Letras. [manuscript in preparation]
“Deslocamento, Justaposição e Suspensão: Considerações iniciais acerca da apropriação fotográfica na poética de Rosana Paulino”, in Estéticas das Viagens, Miguel Gally et al. (ed.). Belo Horizonte: ABRE, 2022
Conference Presentations and Papers
“La performance multisensorielle, affective et discursive des archives photographiques de l'esclavage brésilien dans l’Assentamento de Rosana Paulino”. Colloque Performativités Noires. Archives des corps noirs dans l’art de la performance en Amérique latine: une esthétique diasporique?. Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, Paris, France, January 12-13, 2023
“Other Criteria, New Perspectives: The Formal, Conceptual, and Ethical Relations Rosana Paulino Established in Her Early Works with Andy Warhol”. ALARI Second Continental Conference on Afro-Latin American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, December 8, 2022
“‘The Nameless and the Forgotten’: Rosana Paulino’s Assentamento Installation and the Subversive Appropriation of the Photographic Archive of Brazilian Slavery”. African American Art History: Present Coordinates Symposium, Boston University, Boston, USA, 2022
“Apropriação fotográfica e fabulação crítica: as estratégias poéticas de Rosana Paulino e Saidiya Hartman”. 12th Aesthetics and Art History International Congress. University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil, October 20, 2022
“Rosana Paulino’s Assentamento Mixed-Media Installation and the Subversive Appropriation of Brazilian Slavery’s Photographic Archives”. Studientage für Fotografie: Medienbeziehungen der Fotografie. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, Marburg, Germany, July 23, 2022
“To Research, To Select, To Manipulate, To Arrange and To Display: Photographic Appropriation Strategies in Rosana Paulino’s creative process”. Mark Claster Mamolen Dissertation Workshop on Afro-Latin American Studies. Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, May 7, 2022
“Das Avós: Rosana Paulino e a apropriação fotográfica dos arquivos da escravidão”. 41st Brazilian Committee of Art History (CBHA) Colloquium, online, November 25, 2021
“Sobras de uma Vida ou de uma Obra? Geraldo de Barros e seu derradeiro autorretrato”. The Lives of Artists in the Globalized World International Conference. IEA-USP; FAU-USP; École du Louvre; DKF Paris, online, November 4, 2021
“The Multisensory, Affective, and Embodied Performances of 19th-Century Appropriated Photographs in Rosana Paulino’s Assentamento Installation”. Photography Network’s First Virtual Symposium – The Material and the Virtual in Photographic Histories, online, October 9, 2021
“Do global para o local: apontamentos contextuais sobre a apropriação de fotografias do século 19 na obra de Rosana Paulino”. 6th Brazil in the 19th Century International Seminar – Liberal Revolutions and Latin-American Independences. Fluminense Federal University (UFF), online, October 5, 2021
“Desvendando o processo de criação do autorretrato mais emblemático de Geraldo de Barros”. 10th Ibero-American Seminar on Creative Processes in Art – Artistic Production in Pandemic Times. Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), online, November 3, 2020
“Poema A to Z de Geraldo de Barros: um diálogo com os readymades retificados de Marcel Duchamp”. 29th National Meeting of the National Association of Plastic Arts Researchers (ANPAP). Federal University of Goiás (UFG), online, October 1, 2019
“‘Olhar um autorretrato’: as armadilhas visuais presentes em duas fotografias de Geraldo de Barros”. 14th Art History Meeting – Histories of the Regard. University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, November 8, 2019
“Série Sobras de Geraldo de Barros: novas evidências para mapeamento da obra”. 2nd Systemic Relations of Art International Symposium – Art Beyond Art. Sesc-SP; Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), São Paulo, Brazil, July 30, 2019
“O falso autorretrato de Geraldo de Barros”. 10th D. João VI Museum Seminar – Artist’s Representations. National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 28, 2019
“A coleção no processo criativo de Michael Wolf: um acervo de possibilidades”. 2nd Research in Arts, Culture, and Languages Seminar. Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Juiz de Fora, Brazil, November 27, 2015
“Da liberdade pela ponta dos dedos ou da edição como gesto de criação”. 1st Research in Art International Meeting. São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil, September 17, 2015
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant
University of São Paulo
FLH5577 – Photography in Museums: Uses and Functions, graduate course
Lead Instructor: Profa. Dra. Solange Ferraz Lima – São Paulo, Brazil, October/November 2021
University of São Paulo
MUP0002 – Photography in Collections of Museums of History, undergraduate course
Lead Instructor: Profa. Dra. Solange Ferraz Lima – São Paulo, Brazil, August/December 2021
University of São Paulo
MAK0140 – Photography and Art: Interactions Throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries, undergraduate course
Lead Instructor: Profa. Dra. Helouise Costa – São Paulo, Brazil, August/December 2021
University of São Paulo
CAP0261 – Photographic Essay, undergraduate course
Lead Instructor: Prof. Dr. João Musa – São Paulo, Brazil, August/December 2020
University of São Paulo
CAP0183 – The Evolution of the Visual Arts IV, undergraduate course
Lead Instructor: Prof. Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli – São Paulo, Brazil, August/December 2017
Lead-Instructor
Senac São Paulo
Photography Foundations, Photographic Essay, and Lightroom Essentials
Certificate Course – São Paulo, Brazil, February 2016/March 2019
Sesc Brasil
“Série ‘Sobras’, de Geraldo de Barros: a criação artística em tempos de pandemia”
Outreach Lecture created for the Sesc Cultura ConVIDA! Festival – São Paulo, Brazil, October 2020
Sesc São Paulo
Outreach Short-Term Courses in Photography and Visual Arts in various branches of the Sesc São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil: Sesc Santana (jul. 2015); Sesc Pinheiros (abr. 2016); Sesc Carmo (set./out. 2016)
University Guest-Lecturing
University of São Paulo
"Você faz parte I, de Nelson Leirner", CAP0179 – Art History in Brazil II, undergraduate course
Lead-Instructor: Prof. Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli – São Paulo, Brazil, July 6, 2019
University of São Paulo
"Autorretrato, de Geraldo de Barros", CAP0179 – Art History in Brazil II, undergraduate course
Lead-Instructor: Prof. Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli – São Paulo, Brazil, May 16, 2019
Other Relevant Professional Experiences
Valor Econômico Newspaper
Part-Time Photographer
São Paulo, Brazil, 2013/2019
Caras Magazine
Part-Time Photographer
São Paulo, Brazil, 2012/2016
O Estado de S. Paulo Newspaper
Part-Time Photographer
São Paulo, Brazil, 2012/2016
Encontro Magazine
Full-Time Photographer
Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2011/2012
O Tempo Newspaper
Full-Time Photographer
Belo Horizonte, Brazil, July/October 2010
Other Relevant Information
Student Affiliate of the Photography Network
April 2021/Current
Student Affiliate of the Arte&Fotografia Study Group
March 2016/Current
Language Skills
Portuguese: native
English: fluent
Spanish: advanced
French: intermediate
German: basic