A path of Iphan’s Photographic Archives: Discourse changes from the 1970s through the 1980s

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of image representation in the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute, Iphan, between the 1970s and 1980s. With deep changes in the Brazilian political and cultural context and also in the international heritage debates, it's about to present certain aspects of these changing scenario, with an important performance played by the archived visuality by this Institute. Therefore, the Iphan's Photo Archive is presented as key element, a major institution in the organization and consolidation of ideas and narratives. Thus, this paper refers not only to the works done in the first decades but the establishment of an editorial policy over the years 1970 and 1980, changes in the institutional organization of Iphan and in the Brazil's cultural policy and, finally, in the activity of photographers at the turn to the 1980s, presenting then as evidence of the remarkable transformation initiated at the beginning of the 1970s. Finally, it is about to put in evidence the preeminence of the Photo Archive as a major institution in the recognition of the Iphan's trajectory.