Nivaldo Carvalho: Memory, resistance, and the ashes of oblivion

Photographer Nivaldo Carvalho, from Pernambuco, creates a body of work that unites social activism, visual experimentation, and the rescue of historical memory. Based in Garanhuns, where he lives and works, he has 14 years of photographic trajectory marked by significant awards – including the Prêmio Pernambuco de Fotografia (Pernambuco Photography Award, 2023/2024) and the Salão de Fotografia de Pernambuco (Pernambuco Photography Salon, 2025) – and by a constant search to “discover new worlds” through the lens. His photographic practice transcends conventional recording, approaching an experimental stance that questions dominant narratives and gives visibility to silenced stories.

His essay “City in Ashes“, a finalist in the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025, is a powerful visual reflection on the consequences of urbanization processes and the erasure of Quilombola history. Developed in 2024 on the streets of Garanhuns with the performative participation of artist Daniel Luciano, the work establishes a visceral connection between bodies and trees – both symbolically “burned” by historical oblivion. The photographic series, which also became a film available on YouTube, addresses the progressive disappearance of trees from urban sidewalks as a metaphor for the erasure of traditional peoples who resist on the margins of the city. One of the project’s images was awarded at the Salão de Fotografia de Pernambuco 2025 under the theme of “counter-visuality,” consolidating Carvalho’s approach as a form of contesting hegemonic narratives through photographic language.

Learn more about this trajectory that unites photography, performance, and community education in the following interview.

Imagem do Ensaio Ensaio Cidade em Cinzas, de Nivaldo Carvalho, finalista no Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025.

How old are you? Where do you currently live and work?

I am 41 years old and I currently live in Pernambuco, in the city of Garanhuns.

Tell us about your journey in photography. When did you start photographing and why? What role does photography play in your life?

I have 14 years of experience with photography. From the beginning, around 2011, as an amateur, until now. Photography has already brought me 2 awards, the Prêmio Pernambuco de Fotografia (2023/2024) and the award from the Salão de Fotografia de Pernambuco (2025). This year I held my 3rd Photographic Exhibition (frágil: manuseie com cuidado / fragile: handle with care) and I have already participated in many photography festivals in Brazil and have publications in magazines and books. Photography has always fascinated me for the possibility of ‘discovering new worlds,’ of surpassing what the eye can capture, or as a more experimental approach than what we are used to seeing.

Tell us about your finalist work for the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025. When and where was it created? What is its concept? How does it fit into your photographic practice?

The series finalist for the FotoDoc award emerged from the observation of the consequences of urbanization processes in the City, where fewer and fewer trees are kept on the sidewalks, while the history involving the city’s foundation is forgotten. Suggesting a fundamental link between bodies and trees, the essay addresses the erasure of the history of Quilombola peoples, who live and resist on the margins of the city, where bodies/trees are ‘burned,’ erased, historically, and the ashes/memories thrown into ‘mass graves.’ All records were made on the streets of the City of Garanhuns in 2024 and featured the performative action of Artist Daniel Luciano.

City in Ashes also became a film, released this year, and is available on YouTube. I believe that the search for a more experimental approach, and a focus on urgent issues, was what enabled the result in both the photographic series and the film. One of the photographs from this series was awarded at the Salão de Fotografia de Pernambuco (2025), which addressed the theme of ‘counter-visuality’ as a form of contesting dominant narratives. This complete project should soon become a Photographic Exhibition.

What projects are you currently working on? What are your near-future plans for photographic production?

I am currently participating in a project for a Photography Workshop in Quilombola and Peripheral Communities in the City of Garanhuns, which will result in two collective exhibitions with students from the municipal school system, and I am producing my next photographic exhibition, a collective exhibition involving two other artists, which will take place in October in the city of Recife. I believe I will soon also be producing a photobook and I intend to hold another photographic exhibition based on the work developed for the series City in Ashes, a work that goes beyond photography, bringing together other languages such as Performance and Audiovisual.

I also develop continuous activities at the Núcleo de Audiovisual e de Artes Visuais do SESC Garanhuns (SESC Garanhuns Audiovisual and Visual Arts Center), where I participate in and carry out projects in both areas, such as the Exhibition Cinestesias (to be held during the III Mostra Inhumas de Cinema) and the collective exhibition Ciclos de Travessia para não caminhar Só (Cycles of Crossing to Not Walk Alone), which is currently at the Centro Cultural SESC Garanhuns.