ARTIST INTERVIEW SERIES: Renato Ribeiro

Jun 17, 2019
2 min read

‘Photography is fascinating,’ Ribeiro tells me, a photograph constitutes one second that can reveal countless stories and feelings. That one photograph, one second can be eternalized. It is a room in one’s memory that can be printed and published. One cannot commodify or own time but photography allows us to preserve time.

Renato Ribeiro is a professional photographer. His story began as child, fiddling and playing with his father’s camera that tenanted the family home. It was capturing his relatives’ antics during family gatherings and celebrations that marked the inquisitive child’s first entry into a world of biography and portraiture.

Renato fully immersed himself in the field years later, taking classes, volunteering, learning and fine-tuning all of the skills and knowledge that make him the talented photographer and videographer he is today. His focus centres on landscape and portrait photography. Most recently photojournalism has dominated his practice, but with that said, all three components remain the basis of Ribeiro’s professional practice.

Fury of Naturez is a personal favourite from the artists’ collection. Capturing a powerful storm as it towers over the city of São Paulo, we see the ethereal moment the lightning falls from the sky to inflame the horizon above. As a photographer, patience is imperative. You have to wait for all variables (light, weather etc.) to align and intermingle at the precise moment to quantify the entire process. Then click! Boom! Photo!

He uses the word ‘liberty’ when asked to describe his work and place of work. With a camera in your hand, you are not forced inside a structure or a studio or an office. You have the option to go out and interact with nature and connect with different people and cultures. Ribeiro is inspired by the people, cultures and colours that occupy Vancouver’s West Coast. He sees nothing but potential when he looks down his lens into the city and beyond.

Although the photographer carries São Paulo in his heart, it is his eyes that are indispensable to him as a shutterbug. Sight and vision are crucial to the practice; the camera comes last.