Vol. 8 No. 15 (2021): Essays of Geography
Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2020.
Milton Santos famously stated that space can be understood as an unequal accumulation of times, meaning a complex amalgam in which the past is always present. This assertion is especially true and observable in central urban areas: in them, the built environment serves as a sort of testimony of past eras through the historical density of their forms and layouts.
In truth, however, times are not simply accumulated unequally in space. More than that, there is a continuous and uninterrupted interaction between different times that meet in space, essentially dynamic geographical situations in constant transmutation. In these, the marks of previous eras are not crystallized but, rather, continuously (re)framed and (re)adapted. Thus, the functions of spatial forms change, as do the social representations related to them.
The photo seeks to capture such geo-historical dynamism. It portrays, in the foreground, the upper part of the Arcos da Lapa, an old colonial aqueduct dating from the 18th century readapted for the circulation of the famous trams of the Santa Teresa neighborhood. The tracks extend, like a bridge that connects not only different points in space but also yesterday and today, towards the background of the image, in which the EDISE, Petrobras' headquarters dating from the 1970s, stands out, along with other corporate buildings in downtown Rio de Janeiro.
Analog photography - Canon Sure Shot Z155, Kodak Pro Image 100 film.
Vicente Brêtas Gomes dos Santos
Bachelor of Geography (UFF)
Contact: vicente.bretas@gmail.com
