Global Voices Online

The content of Tatiana Cardeal's photography is firmly rooted in her native country of Brazil, but her intimate lens and universal themes have generated a wide following of Flickr fans from all over the globe. Last week I emailed Tatiana with questions concerning her photography, her country, her life, and her weblog. What follows is her reply with selections of her photography.

No More Lies?

In the last months, we Brazilians, are suffering day and night with the political news. So much corruption was discovered of the governament. You probably know how president Lula (and the Worker's Party) was symbolic and strong for us, and how much hope we had on this election… but power seems to corrupt everything, and now we are shocked by all those daily lies, after beliving so strong on the Worker's Party flag, wich has the ethic as their first priority. What a shame, and how sad.

I'm very depressed right now about all this. That's one of my motives to say “no more lies“. So, this is a kind of way to give life for those unpublish images and scream about our society. I'm angry with the politics, but I'm also frustrated with the usual cultural being of our Brazilian's society, specially the “midle class”. I'm not sure how to translate, but we have here the richs (a few of very rich and powerfull people), the poors, wich means a large population living in misery, and the “midle class”, which means are not so poor but certainly not rich. Those people see what is happening, but they don't act. Not only about the political ways, protesting, but also the daily problems. One of our most rich and important city in Brazil is São Paulo, were I live.

It's the third big city of the world, and we can see exactly those three words here, and it's easy to see them. You stop on the street and you'll see expensive car, black windows closed, armored, and a lot of poors, street kids asking money, food… it's everywhere. How people can sleep with that? Faking blind about those things rising, growing day by day? They lie for themselves everyday. That's how I see, but sometimes I feel I'm that one, out of the Matrix, LOL.

Why English?

About writing in english, well, first was a coincidence. I started to publish my pictures on Flickr, and there weren't many Brazilians there as we have now. First I wasn't writing, just showing images, and I was shy about write in english, because I'm not that good on that. But people started to talk with me and asking things about my photos… I started to write. Them I decided to spread the World Social Forum, wich is a fantastic meeting, developing every year, with people from all the world (200.000 came in last january!), and I know the EUA, China, and some others countrys mass media don't use to talk about it. So I decided to make some “publicity” of that, showing the pictures and adding some words and links about. It was the beggining of my blog too. I worked more than ten years as designer and art director for many brazilians magazines, newspapers… but I started tired about, because it is always a world about a few people, a minory class with money to buy things. I was getting exhausted about the market laws and lies, always selling things on the magazines, always private interests behind. I quit my work, and decided to find other possibilities.

That's where I am now! Trying to find ways to show those people and historys without voice, those people wich are not on the magazines, trying to feel alive, and doing something which I believe. It's a hard way, I'm not makin money, I'm spending all I get working those years, but I still believe I'll find a way. I'm now writing a project, trying to find resources to continues my work in a professional way. For sure, I want to have a blog published in portuguese and english, but for now, I have time only for one language, and I can't pay english classes, so I use this as an excuse to continues improving the language. My audience should be people from all the world, sharing experiences and showing my country. European, Asiatics and Americans don't seems to know how people live here, or our culture, and I hope I can tell about that. My dream is to help social programs and to approach cultures. I believe if it happens, the approach of cultures, war should be not so easy to happen.

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