(Madrid, Spain, 1935 - )
2005 and 2006 (printed 2008)
Digital pigment print
34 1/2 x 51 3/4 in. (87.6 x 131.6 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of the artist and the Evelyne Shaffer Endowment for Exhibitions
2008.25
Pedro Meyer is internationally renowned for his powerful photographs and pioneering work with digital imaging. Whether his large-scale images are digitally modified or “straight” photographs is unclear, and Meyer contends that all photographs – whether digitally manipulated or not – are equally “true” and “untrue.” Meyer photographs communities throughout the world. This scene, part of a series in which the artist explored the mysteries and power of faith, is from Brazil’s annual four-day Carneval festival, which provides the last opportunities for excess prior to Lent. The enormous faces, which suggest the indigenous and African roots of the Brazilian people, are probably part of a float. Meyer often photographs masks, which he uses to both reveal and conceal.