Contemporary photographic language offers the possibility of interdisciplinary dialogues. Ricardo Kalil creates a sequence in his photo animations that can be interpreted as a frontier between photography and animation.
On this frontier the movement of the gaze moves along with the images, to the right and left, in sequences of the same theme, however, with different aesthetics. What are the possible forms of representation? What are the limits between image and its representation?
The subject of the photos are urban workers, occupied in public or private works. When I watch these photographic animations, I wonder what would be the reaction of these same workers if they saw. their images in museums, galleries and cultural centers.
Ricardo Kalil’s photos go beyond workers’ representation, reflecting on who the art is for and how society is divided between the spectators and the models who, though visible in the images, remain an object for observation and a product for commercialization.
It is a complex reflection because it permeates the field of identity: the identification of the working class, its visibility beyond the technical and operational functions and our empathy with those behind the standardized uniform.
These animated photographs still introduce a playful aspect to the scenes. It is poetic to observe the details of life in an aesthetic and cultural way. After all, art is a result of the viewer’s gaze and not a property of the subjects represented.
