Photography agencies and documentary photography in Rio Grande do Sul: A case study on the photo book Santa Soja (1979)

Abstract

This article aims to problematize the photographs of the photo book titled Santa Soja, edited by Jacqueline Joner and Luiz Abreu and published in 1979, with photographs by Luiz Abreu, Eneida Serrano, Jacqueline Joner and Genaro Joner. The photographs focus on the changes that the introduction of soybeans, a new commercial, export-oriented agricultural crop, was causing in the countryside. The small family farming was being put to test by the change in the way of planting and selling, also causing changes in work relations and daily life. The book is the result of previous work carried out between 1976 and 1979, when the photographers prepared materialfor the Cooperativa de Jornalistas de Porto Alegre (1973-83), which edited the magazine Agricultura & Cooperativismo. They toured the region for about three years photographing families, homes and work in the fields. In 1979, Jaqueline Joner, Eneida Serrano, Genaro Joner and Luiz Abreu created the Ponto de Vista Agency, which edited in that year two books from the images in their photographic archives: Santa Soja (1979) and Ponto de Vista (1979).