Kupfer, Paula Victoria
(2024)
Marc Ferrez’s Landscapes of Intervention:
Photography, Ecology, and Enslavement in Imperial Brazil.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This dissertation examines photographs from late-nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro by Brazilian photographer Marc Ferrez (1843–1923), of three types of environments fundamental to organizing the idea of “nature” in imperial Brazil: the tropical forest, the botanical garden, and the plantation. Through a decolonial and ecocritical approach, it demonstrates how the construction of a photographic visual culture of tropical nature was intrinsically connected to histories of slavery and labor. It underscores the inextricability of landscape management, extractivism, and race as they manifest in Ferrez’s internationally circulating pictures. And it parses the affordances of vintage photographic formats and digital images. Chapter 1 offers an overview of Ferrez’s life that accounts for his development as a photographer and his position within economic, cultural, and social spheres of imperial Rio de Janeiro. Chapter 2 studies photographs made in several forested areas across the Tijuca massif, including the site of a historic, multispecies reforestation effort that took place between 1862 and 1891, following intense soil depletion from monoculture coffee plantations. The chapter examines the politics of the photographic picturesque and offers an overview of the environmental history of the Tijuca area, one of the early sites of the Brazilian coffee industry. Chapter 3 studies a selection of Ferrez’s pictures from the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro, questioning their alignment with the imperial ideal of Brazil as a “civilization in the tropics.” It parses the history of the botanical garden in relation to its use of enslaved labor and as an institutional space that developed agricultural education programs in anticipation of economic changes related to abolition. Chapter 4 studies Ferrez’s photographs of coffee plantations from the Paraiba Valley. It draws important connections between histories of environmental destruction and slavery in the area; differentiates between circulating photographs and archival images; and seeks to understand how his pictures might have served not only wealthy landowners and enslavers, but potentially, the work of abolitionists. The Conclusion addresses the appropriation of Ferrez’s photographs by contemporary Black Brazilian artists whose work addresses the history of slavery and race through a reparative framework, underscoring the ongoing relevance of these historic photographs.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
27 August 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
23 April 2024 |
| Approval Date: |
27 August 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
16 August 2024 |
| Access Restriction: |
2 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 2 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
261 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > History of Art and Architecture |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
history of photography, Latin America, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, landscape, ecocriticism, ecocritical art history, Marc Ferrez, history of slavery, botanical garden, forest, plantation, race, environmental history, environmental humanities |
| Date Deposited: |
27 Aug 2024 11:41 |
| Last Modified: |
27 Aug 2024 11:41 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/46943 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[img]](https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png)
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}