Photographs from Spaces of Black Performativity: The Samba Rock Culture in São Paulo Exhibition

The 35 photographs and 36 accompanying captions in this collection document the samba rock scene in São Paulo and were taken by Greice Gonçalves (6), Nego Júnior (18), Roberto Moreira (5), Semayat Oliveria (1), Camila Reis (4), Clóvis Silva (1), and Marcelo Souza (2), members of the Samba Rock na Veia cultural collective of São Paulo. Founded by Nego Júnior in 2007, this group began as a blog aimed at providing information and about samba rock culture in Brazil. The blog highlighted performances, concerts and discussions about samba rock activities and included photo and audiovisual documentation. In 2009, the blog expanded its reach and became both an online platform to share information about samba rock culture and events and a community organization that coordinates cultural showcases and workshops for youth from São Paulo’s periphery.

Samba rock is a popular dance culture that emerged in the 1950s in the black periphery of São Paulo. As a cultural movement this tradition blends Brazilian samba with North American rock and roll. Over the decades, samba rock has evolved from simply a performance of music and dance into a cultural movement that represents part of the black experience in the periphery of São Paulo.

This photographic collection was displayed in fall 2012 at the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The exhibition was created in conjunction with the Spaces of Black Performativity: São Paulo symposium held at the University of Texas at Austin on November 8, 2012. During the symposium, scholars presented case studies and discussed cultural production, negotiations of citizenship and performative practices in the peripheries of São Paulo. The exhibition was curated by UT Austin doctoral student in ethnomusicology, Krista Kateneva, who conducted part of her fieldwork with Samba Rock na Veia.