Libellum

Nesta primeira fotografia, Gabriela é vista de costas dentro d’água, nadando para a direita. O fundo é preto. Ela é uma mulher branca, não magra, com cabelos ruivos, ondulados. Gabriela usa top e calcinha bege escuro, largos. Uma curva sinuosa na coluna faz com que suas costas estejam na horizontal e as pernas atrofiadas, na vertical. Sua imagem é refletida na superfície da água.

No centro superior desta segunda fotografia temos as pernas atrofiadas de Gabriela, vistas de frente, como que caindo sentada, com os joelhos muito próximos e os pés afastados, apontando para fora, em direções opostas. O fundo é preto e ela está debaixo d'água.

No centro desta terceira fotografia, Gabriela é vista de perfil esquerdo, dos ombros para baixo, dentro d’água. Ela está com os braços abertos e as pernas flexionadas para a frente, com os pés entre as rodas de uma cadeira de rodas caída, com o recosto branco flutuando para a direita. O reflexo dourado na superfície da água, refletido nos braços da cadeira, deixa-os em tom de ouro velho, que contrasta com o aro prateado da roda. Os raios de sol entram na água e ilumina o corpo de Gabriela, todo o fundo é preto.

"Doing the photo session for me was a unique feeling. It allowed me to understand more about how my disabled body behaves in the water. The way in which I view this body changed a bit, which enabled me to love it even more, exactly the way it is."

Gabriela Amorim

"Making this photo essay was a great milestone in my history within photography, after all, I never had the opportunity to photograph someone with a disability. Seeing Gabriela's body moving in the water was one of the most enjoyable sensations I have ever been able to experience. And knowing that these photographs affected Gabi in such a powerful way, with an inner gaze, for me, only confirms the importance of highlighting people with disabilities, through a subversive and empowering gaze."

Amanda Bambu

Co-creation: Amanda Bambu and Gabriela Amorim

Technique: Underwater Photography

Year: 2021

Maceió - Alagoas - Brazil

Amanda Bambu is a 26 year old woman from Alagoas Brazil. She is a visual artist and has been working for a little over 8 years with photography, during which she has developed numerous projects with themes related to the "woman" and her various nuances within society, in a poetic, visceral and sincere way. She gives lectures, workshops and classes about photography and its relationship with narrative construction and the poetics of photographic making.

Gabriela Amorim is a 24 year old woman, who was born with myelomeningocele. At the age of 9 she became the first wheelchair dancer in Alagoas. She has traveled to dance festivals all over Brazil, such as Brasília, Fortaleza, Aracaju, among other cities in the country, during her 15-year career.