Geographical classification

America > Brazil

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Artistic movements since the end of the 19th century

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Socio-political movements > Civil rights movements

Groups by dedication

Activists

Plastic, visual and performing artists > Photographers

Educators

Popularisers / Cultural promoters

Writers > in > Spanish

Writers > in > English

Character
Retrato

Angélica Da Silva Santos

(Angélica Dass)

Río de Janeiro 09-05-1979

Period of activity: From 2006 until Still active

Geographical classification: America > Brazil

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Artistic movements since the end of the 19th century

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Socio-political movements > Civil rights movements

Groups by dedication

Activists

Plastic, visual and performing artists > Photographers

Educators

Popularisers / Cultural promoters

Writers > in > Spanish

Writers > in > English

Context of feminine creation

It is important to contextualise Angélica Dass alongside other contemporary women photographers from the five continents. Among them are the Spanish Ouka Leele (1957-2022), also a painter and poet, belonging to the "movida madrileña", whose main characteristic of her work is the water-colouring of her black and white photographs; the American portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz (1949), creator of iconic images of the 20th century; the renovating artist of documentary photography and storyteller Nan Goldin (1953); British photographer and artist Corrine Day (1962); conceptual artists Sophie Calle (1953), writer, photographer and film director, and Englishwoman Gillian Wearing (1963), who uses video and sculpture in addition to photography; South African activist photographer Zenele Muholi (1972); Japanese photographer Masumi Hayashi (1945-2006), whose most frequently used technique is photographic collage; and Mexican artist Graciela Iturbide (1942).

Photography, as we know it today, began in the late 1830s in France, although it was born around 1816, it offered an unparalleled opportunity to all creators, regardless of their gender. Photography was a revolutionary invention in society with respect to all other artistic disciplines and documentary techniques. Therefore, it is important that its history is not presented in a partial and incomplete way, including all those women who dedicated themselves to this profession. Photography offered a unique opportunity to a whole generation of avant-garde women artists by giving them access to a powerful tool with which to express their creativity: the photographic camera.

We find pioneers in this art of photography such as the British Anna Atkins (1799-1871), pioneering photographer and botanist, famous for including photographs of plants in her books; Francis Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952), American photographer who went down in history for being the first photojournalist in history; Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), a great portrait photographer of the American Great Depression; French surrealist artist Dora Maar (1907-1997); Austrian Inge Morath (1923-2002), the first woman to join the prestigious Magnum Agency; and Japanese Sasamoto Tsuneko (1914-2022), considered Japan's first woman photojournalist.

Review

World-renowned Brazilian photographer who combines photography with sociological research and public participation in the defence of human rights. She is the creator of the photographic project Humanae: a collection of portraits that reveals the diversity of the human being and deals with the theme of skin colour. Angélica's work transcends museums and finds in school classrooms a great universe of work. 

Activities

Spanish

  • Autorretrato: mi color de piel
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Artistic expression > 4th ESO > Photography, visual language, audiovisual and multimedia
  • Collage de colores de piel
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Artistic expression > 4th ESO
  • Cubo de Rubik de colores de piel
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Artistic expression > 4th ESO > Photography, visual language, audiovisual and multimedia
  • Paleta de colores de piel
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Artistic expression > 4th ESO > Photography, visual language, audiovisual and multimedia
  • Proyecto: ¿Cuál es el color carne?
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 3rd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 2nd ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Formal elements of the image and visual language. Graphic expression
    • Spain > Art, visual and audiovisual education > 1st ESO > Image and visual and audiovisual communication
    • Spain > Artistic expression > 4th ESO > Photography, visual language, audiovisual and multimedia

Justifications

  • Renowned and award-winning photographer.
  • Her work is a combination of photography, social education, public participation and human rights advocacy.
  • Activist who makes racism and inequalities visible through her lectures, workshops and exhibitions in institutions, museums and schools in more than 50 countries.
  • Creator of the Humanæ project: a collection of portraits that reveal the beauty and diversity of human colours.

Biography

Angélica Dass is an award-winning photographer born in Brazil and based in Spain. Her practice combines photography with sociological research and public participation in global human rights advocacy.

Dass was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1979, growing up in a family where chromatic variety of skin tones was a reality. "The colour of the skin inside home was not important, however, outside it seemed that it was". "I never understood why there is this way of classifying people as black, white, yellow or red, which are the colours associated with race".

Dass studied Fine Arts at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and in Madrid where he completed a postgraduate degree in photography at EFTI (International Centre for Photography and Film). Today he lives in Madrid.

She is the creator of the international project Humanæ: a collection of portraits that reveals the diversity of human beauty. The photographer explains that the origin of this project has to do with her own frustration and confusion about the concept of skin colour since her childhood. What colour is a flesh-coloured pencil? This is the question that Dass asked herself at the age of 7, becoming the germ of this adventure that questions the dehumanisation of the other for reasons that have to do with skin colour.

Dass began his Humanæ project in 2012 and soon achieved international repercussions. It is an ongoing project that aims to display a chromatic inventory of the different human skin tones. The photographers are volunteers who have learned about the project and decided to take part in it. There is no prior selection of participants, nor are there any classification headings referring to nationality, gender, age, race, social class or religion. Nor is there an explicit intention to complete it by a certain date. It is open in all senses and will include everyone who wants to be part of this colossal global mosaic. The limit would only be reached by the completion of the entire world's population. This taxonomy of Borgesian proportions that Angelica has initiated has adopted a format, that of the PANTONE® Guides, disabling any pretence of control or hierarchy based on race or social status. The project has 4,000 volunteers, with portraits in 20 countries and 36 cities.

Her work has travelled to more than 80 cities around the world, from PhotoEspaña, to the World Economic Forum (Davos), UN Habitat III, London Migration Museum, AMNH, Montreal Fine arts Museum, Dublin Science Gallery; to the pages of National Geographic, Time Magazine, Foreign Affairs, among other important media. Her TED Talk exceeded two million views, which confirms the great potential of her work to go beyond photography; this makes it a tool for social change, promoting dialogue and challenging cultural prejudices.

Dass extends Humanae's educational message through institutional collaborations all over the world, such as collaborations with town councils in different cities of the Basque Country, teacher training colleges in Madrid, secondary schools in the Czech Republic, or with UNESCO and the Chilean Government: it reaches an impact of more than fifty thousand students in one week.

Works

Photogrphies:

-De pies a cabeza (2012). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/de-pies-a-cabeza/>

-Desenredo (2012). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/desenredo/>

-Vecinas (2016). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/vecinas/>

-Yo soy somos (2018). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/yo-soy-somos/>

-280 Chibatadas (2018). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/280-chibatadas/>

-456 (2018).  <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/456-cleveland/>

-Matrescence (iniciado en 2018). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/matrescence/>

-A Historia viva de Ames (2020). <https://angelicadass.com/es/fotografia/a-historia-viva-de-ames/>  

Books:

-Dass, Angélica (2021). The Colors We Share. New York: Aperture

-Dass, Angélica (2023). #SAYQM - Soy adolescente ¿y qué más? Madrid: PHREE

Bibliography

-Palma, Francisca. (16-05-2018). “Hemos hecho que la narrativa sea la misma: los colores oscuros asociados a lo negativo y los más claros a lo positivo (Angélica Dass)” , Noticias,  Facultad de medicina. Universidad de Chile, (28-05-2024), <https://medicina.uchile.cl/noticias/143559/angelica-dass-propone-experiencia-de-proyecto-humanae-en-la-sea-2018>

Audiovisuals:

-Aprendemos Juntos 2030. [#AprendemosJuntos]. (06-05-2019 ). El mayor tesoro del ser humano es su diversidad. Angelica Dass, fotógrafa [Video], (28-05-2024), <https://www.youtube.com/watchv=qJCIw3m5PFc>

-TEDxMadrid. (06-10-2016). Humanae viaja a TED. Entrevista a Angélica Dass en TEDxMadrid 2016, (28-05-2024), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_aOvlWrI40>

-"Angélica Dass ‘HumanÆ’ Brasil" (2019). FESTIVAL 10 SENTIDOS, (05-06-2024), <https://www.festival10sentidos.com/el-festival/angelica-dass/>

Didactic approach

In the subject of Plastic, Visual and Audiovisual Education, concepts related to the colour, the portrait, the photography and the project can be worked on.

In a more transversal way, concepts such as identity, collective, diversity, discrimination and respect are dealt with. It can be related to the subject of immigration, culture, anatomy and sociology. 

These transversal aspects are suitable for Education in Civic and Ethical Values and History in ESO and for Philosophy and Sociology in the High School.

It can be an artistic reference for social art and subjects such as photography.


 

Documents