Capoeira in the roda, capoeira in life

photobiography as a apresentation of the self

Abstract

The biography of any social actor is permeated by multiple spaces of socialization, the result of multiple social forces. In this way, studying a biography and raising these lived experiences, from the past to the present, implies a whole work of remembrance, of penetration into the singularized social memory that each social actor can offer of himself when questioned.
In this research, the participating social actor was the artist and capoeirista Alberto Antônio, resident of the Cruz das Armas neighborhood in João Pessoa - PB, known by his family as “Betinho” and in the universe of capoeira in Paraiba as “Contramestre Escurinho”. Through a semi-structured interview combined with an informal biographical interview, the aim was to bring us closer to their family, work, cultural and affective experiences. This visual essay reveals fragments of imagery narratives that intertwine in time between art, capoeira and self-recognition. In a non-linear chronology that spans the years 1998 to 2018, questions are grouped between art and artistic recognition, rites of initiation and passage, and finally, capoeira and authority figures.