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Tarikh al-Brasil, which can be translated from Arabic as ‘History of Brazil’, is a visual research project by MARCELLO SCHELLINI on the visibility/ invisibility of Muslims of African origin in Brazilian history and society.
With more than four hundred years of presence in Brazil, African Muslims first arrived in the Americas through the slave trade and, although enslaved, yielded an expressive cultural and social influence that triggered numerous freedom revolts, being the Malês uprising of 1835 their best known historical chapter.
The present photo essay is a reflection on the possibilities of seeing/ reviewing through a photographic practice that drives the image to the limit between the document and the invention. The photographs also convey the author’s engagement, himself a reverted Muslim, in his ten years as an active member of the largest community of African Muslims today in Brazil and its struggle to overcome social negligence and underrepresentation.
Captured predominantly during the month of Ramadan in 2019 and some years earlier – in 2011 and 2013 – this collection was co-designed and crafted to shed light on the rich presence and socio-cultural contribution of African Muslims within Brazilian society.
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The photographer
- Marcelo Abdullah Schellini is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher on photography and visual srts. He has a PhD in Visual Arts from the University of São Paulo and a Master’s Degree in Visual Culture Studies from the University of Barcelona. Marcelo has published articles, photobooks and exhibited his artwork in a number of countries, including Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Brazil, and Chile. His principal medium is photography, although his work also encompasses visual anthropology and new technologies. Currently, he is a lecturer at Curtin University in Malaysia.
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