Joyce Delfim

Joyce Delfim is an art researcher and curator with a bachelor’s in Art History from the State University of Rio de Janeiro and a master’s from the University of Salamanca. She is currently a PhD student in Art History and Theory at the Federal University of Bahia, and a visiting PhD at the Inter-University Doctoral Program Arts & Knowledges. Her recent researches explores contemporary Brazilian art’s relationship with nature, the implications of the Anthropocene thesis, and ecofeminisms.

Title of the dissertation project:
Between images of damming and images of movement: Visualities of an imagined Paraguaçu river

Supervision: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nicole Haitzinger

Abstract:
An estuary is characterized by the alternation between fresh and salt waters—images of movement. The flora and fauna of these regions are adapted to the range of salinity encountered, such as some species of rays that move from the riverbed to the surface when a flow of saltwater meets freshwater. However, in the estuary of the Paraguaçu River (Bahia, Brazil), what has been observed since the installation of the Pedra do Cavalo Hydroelectric Dam are images of damming: the river’s rapids, whose geographical feature was used to raise a dam; the Paraguaçu—a major navigable river in the region from the 17th to the 20th century—silted, absent of its characteristic saveiros (typical boat from the region) and steamboats, with waters flowing in the opposite direction to its mouth; and mangroves increasingly less inhabited by species regulated by the tides (such as sururus and rays) and more by invasive species (such as the sponge Amorphinopsis atlantica), which colonize the local flora and cause skin and gynecological diseases among women who work as shellfish gatherers and artisanal fishers in traditional and quilombola communities of the Iguape Bay.

This research derives from the exercise of investigating the inscription of the Pedra do Cavalo Hydroelectric Dam into the visuality and dynamics of the Paraguaçu River estuary. To construct a visual narrative of the estuary, and understanding images as producers of testimonies, hegemonies, or resistances, two visual axes will be formulated and analyzed: the documentary Complexo Pedra do Cavalo by Bahian filmmaker Oscar Santana; and a set of photographs of the Paraguaçu River belonging to the public archives of the cities of Cachoeira and São Félix, located downstream of the dam.

The thesis begins with an analysis of the documentary Complexo Pedra do Cavalo, directed by Bahian filmmaker Oscar Santana, situating it in its commissioning and production context. Commissioned by the Government of the State of Bahia in the 1970s, the film aimed to document the construction of the Pedra do Cavalo Dam. However, by using an adventure film soundtrack, scenes of rock implosions, the striking action of machinery in the landscape, and a narrative that exalts human domination over nature, the documentary reveals itself not only as a historical record but also as a product and producer of the developmentalism ideologies of the time, emphasizing an anthropocentric view that subjugates nature in favor of progress.

Subsequently, an analysis will be conducted on photographs of the Paraguaçu River from the 1930s to the 1960s, sourced from the archives of Cachoeira and São Félix. Through these images, the visuality of the Paraguaçu estuary before the construction of the Pedra do Cavalo Dam will be explored, offering a perspective on the river’s dynamics prior to significant anthropic interventions.

At the end of the thesis, a speculative proposal for the removal of the Pedra do Cavalo Dam is presented, inspired by decommissioning projects of dams in rivers located in Germany and Spain, among other European countries, promoted by the Dam Removal Europe movement. While the efforts aim at socio-environmental recovery, a similarity between the decommissioning videos produced by the movement and the documentary Complexo Pedra do Cavalo is noted. Both these videos and the documentary emphasize, in their visual narrative, the use of machinery and explosives, perpetuating an aesthetic that echoes industrialist and developmentalism ideals. Therefore, during the exchange period, two dams removed by the Dam Removal Europe movement will be selected for study and field research, with interviews with the local population and movement members. The objective will be to develop textual and visual proposals for the decommissioning of the Pedra do Cavalo Dam, guided by socio-environmental and rights repair for the traditional and quilombola communities affected by the Dam, who live in relation to the Paraguaçu.