Photographer Alvaro Hoppe at UCSC
- UCSC Extension Center, Av. Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción.
- Friday, August 30 – 11:00 a.m.
One of the most important photographers of national, documentary and urban photojournalism, especially during the protests and demonstrations against the dictatorship in the 1980s and then during the transition, Álvaro Hoppe Guiñez (Altazor Prize 2004), will be the protagonist of two activities to celebrate World Photography Day at UCSC, which will take place on Friday, August 30 at the UCSC Extension Center.
Images such as the policeman seen through a broken bus window, a man walking in the opposite direction to a group of police officers, apparently without noticing or ignoring them, and many others that are part of national history and part of Hoppe’s body of work, are remembered and commented on in the documentary “Álvaro Hoppe: Active Spectator” by director Paulina Yáñez and CenFoto, from the Diego Portales University (UDP), through its deputy director Andrea Aguad, which will be shown at 11:00 a.m. in the Theater Room of the UCSC Extension Center.
After the exhibition, there will be a conversation with the photographer.
Credits Alvaro Hoppe – High school student, Reja_Ahoppe_ Santiago, 1986
“In an intimate, first-person account, the photographer introduces us to his photographic archive, a space from which he reflects, using mostly unpublished photographs, on a biographical journey that begins in his childhood home, is linked to the theatre, and ends with direct experience on the street. Through these images we get closer to the particular stamp of his work, which also tells us about his own existence,” explains the review of the work.
It is projected as an opportunity for reflection and conversation between Hoppe and the audiences present. The activity is aimed at high school students, university students and the general public. Institutions interested in participating should contact Jessica Oñate at [email protected] or at +56 41 234 5053.
On the same day, but in the afternoon (3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.), Hoppe will hold a workshop/conversation for photographers entitled Photography, Witness, Memory, Stories and Ethics.
In the words of the photographer: “A trip to motivate, encourage, and enthuse participants in this profession of being a photographer and generate the need
to work on personal and collective creative projects”. Topics will be addressed there such as: experiences in the media and publishing houses, the importance of photographic archives, memory and its value.
The workshop is aimed at photographers of all levels and costs $30,000. Details and registration can be found on the website cultura.ucsc.cl (section “workshops”).
In response to the question, why take photos? Hoppe says: (photography) “is a tool that serves me. It helps us communicate, express, freeze, denounce, bear witness to facts, exceptional and everyday situations. It is an impulse, a desire to show beauty, hope, joy. Sometimes even ‘the wrong side of the average’, the ugly, the not usually photographed.”
“Photography is about showing objective and subjective realities. They are stories about society. Today, life diaries are Instagram and Facebook. At the same time, books are important, the tangible, the expression. There is a trend that is the photobook, to discover. It shows the mosaic of society. We are all observed. The god Google or security cameras or cell phones. Everything is photographed. For me, that is important.”
Nowadays, photography is almost a natural extension of people; a cell phone is a photo and video camera that accompanies us constantly; access to images is massive and daily.
On this, Hoppe comments: “Photography is always in historical, social contexts. Photography, at first, was incredibly important. Few people had a camera, few people take photos. Now that photography is more democratized with cell phones, people no longer write, they send images. Now the problem is with saturation. The flood of images is strong. Selection and editing are important. That is why visual literacy and ethics are important. There are several examples, educational books. There is a book that I recommend and suggest for schoolchildren called The Educational Potential of Photography, in which I participated (https://www.cultura.gob.cl/publicaciones/el-potencial-
educational-photography-pedagogical-notebook/)”.
“Having a photographer with the experience and expertise of Álvaro Hoppe is not only a great privilege, it is also a tremendous opportunity for those who are beginning their journey in this art/trade and also for those who already have a long career. Inspiration, through experience, seeks to channel, seeking the clarity of projects and artistic paths that sometimes become blurred,” says Natalia Baeza, director of Cultural and University Extension at UCSC.
World Photography Day is celebrated every year on August 19, the date in 1839 when the French Academy of Sciences presented the daguerreotype, considered the first photographic device and process in history.
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