Empossamento #1 2003

Curator: Mauro Restiffe's "Empossamento #1" presents a sequence of six small photographs, capturing what appears to be a political inauguration. The Tate collection houses this work, inviting us to consider its narrative. Editor: Immediately, I get a sense of unfolding time, like a flipbook of a historical moment. The grainy black and white adds to the weight of it all, doesn’t it? Curator: Absolutely. The photographic process itself is crucial here. Restiffe's choices—the film, the printing—speak to the accessibility and documentary function of photography within political processes. Editor: It also feels strangely intimate, despite the crowd. Maybe because of the size, like a secret shared. It's a quiet observation of power. Curator: Perhaps Restiffe is highlighting the tension between individual agency and collective identity within such spectacles. The labor of image-making is subtly revealed, prompting reflection on how we consume these narratives. Editor: It’s funny, you know? I came in thinking “political event,” but I’m leaving thinking more about the feeling of witnessing something important, even from afar. Curator: And that feeling is precisely constructed through these very material, temporal choices.