Willy Ronis
Museu Da Imagem e Do Som (MIS), São Paulo
From 28 April to 16 June 2013
Extramural
The selection of 76 photographs composing this exhibition hopes to offer a version of Ronis’ work which, despite having been traditionally inscribed within the canonical discourse of Humanism, turns out to be profoundly conscious of the very nature of the images. For Ronis, photography is not an end in itself. Rather it is a medium through which his own experience of the social reality which surrounds him circulates. Whether they are taken in the street, in factories, in nature or in intimate settings, Ronis’ photographs are a compendium of moments which extend throughout his biography and with which he has constructed his own version of reality.
[…]
Although it is true that Ronis’ photographs participate in a sense in this exultant -and somewhat innocent- vision of the human condition, this is also true of his profound sense of the imposition caused by photographically sweetening social injustice. For this reason, Ronis consciously and intensely explored the vicissitudes of the more humble and downtrodden classes. His photographs of the strikers, of the picketers, and of the fiery harangues of the union leaders in places like the Renault (1950) and the Citröen (1936) factories, in the mines of Saint-Étienne (1948), or on the streets of Paris (1950), are testament to this. Behind his sensitivity to the hard working, family and social conditions of the workers of the period, there lay a photographer, whose political and social concerns were not wholly satisfied by capturing fragments of life here and there, and who felt that they required an active commitment. Though Ronis does not dress up poverty, neither does he make it more miserable; he neither beautifies, nor uglies it. Ronis accompanies it in its vindications, in its struggle and in its manifestos. It is through this that the images of the working world in Ronis’ universe inspire respect and adhesion, solidarity and commitment.
[…]
Marta Gili
Exhibition Curator
Museu Da Imagem e Do Som (MIS),
Avenida Europa, 158, Jardim Europa,
São Paulo, Brésil
http://www.mis-sp.org.br