Between image and object: Chichico Alkmim's photography and the Afro-Brazilian subject

Abstract

The history of photography and the legacy of slavery in Brazil converge in the work of the largely understudied Francisco Augusto de Alkmim (1886 -1978), also known as Chichico. Self-taught, he established his studio by 1919 in Diamantina, a once prosperous mining city in the state of Minas Gerais. Over 5000 of his surviving negatives capture family festivals, small-town life, individual and group portraiture from numerous social and ethnic backgrounds, a varied and variegated racial spectrum typically associated with the country. Although Chichico's images convey a post-slavery complexity [and fantasy] inherent in the visualization of a "Brazilian racial identity," they are, nevertheless, useful tools for exploring that which is concealed and unspoken. Drawing on theoretical scholarship in hauntology and spectrality, as well as Critical Race theories and Black Feminist thought, my work argues that Chichico's photographs reflect the Brazilian culture of concealment regarding race and gender issues. On the surface, these images reproduce ideas of racial democracy and the positive aspects of racial miscegenation, but they also carry centuries of abuse that is hidden, obscured, or ignored. Each chapter centers on key photographs that manifest and reveal various aspects of Brazilian culture: a haunting family portrait shows the in-between-spaces occupied by Black and mixed-race women and raises questions about informal adoptions in rural Brazil; a group portrait of Carnaval folioes (partygoers) speaks of modernity in the margins through the lens of a peculiar party drug, lanca-perfume; and a captivating double portrait uncovers long-standing mythologies surrounding the visualization of Afro-Brazilian woman in forging a national identity. This study concludes that Chichico's photographs propel us to reflect on Brazilian myths that emerged over a century ago but still linger today, urging us to question current institutionalized practices and reflect on systematic global conditions regarding race and gender inequalities.