鈥淪onhos e Saudades鈥� 鈥� the Portuguese title of an exhibit by acclaimed photojournalists Tyrone Turner and Susan Sterner 鈥� means 鈥渄reams and longings.鈥�
鈥淏razilians are big dreamers, incredibly optimistic,鈥� Sterner explained in a recent telephone interview, reflecting on the time, 1998-’00, when she and Turner, her professional partner and husband, worked in Northeastern Brazil. A two-year fellowship with the Institute of Current World Affairs Time enabled them to document, in still photography, the human side of issues there, including land rights, literacy, public health and women鈥檚 lives.
An exhibit of this work opens Feb. 14 in 黑料正能量鈥檚 Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery in the University Commons.
, associate professor in , characterizes the couple as 鈥渟ome of my oldest and dearest friends,” whom she met when they were neighbors in Northern Virginia.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been amazing for me to watch them grow and change,鈥� Moore adds. 鈥淓verything they do has a deeply human element.鈥� She views their creativity as never 鈥渕erely aesthetic. They鈥檙e deeply concerned with every story. They are not patronizing, but walk with the people they photograph.鈥�
The couple will speak at both the exhibit opening and a performance of the play Time Stands Still on the evening of Feb. 14.
Sterner was touched by the Brazilians鈥� 鈥渙ptimism and ingenuity 鈥� how they went about solving problems. It鈥檚 a country of survivors.鈥� Northeastern Brazil鈥檚 蝉别谤迟茫辞 (backcountry) is a semi-arid, often-mythologized area that entails 鈥渉ard lives.鈥� Droughts and famines require frequent migrations, reminiscent of America鈥檚 Depression-era Dust Bowl, Sterner explained. She and Turner primarily worked in the provinces Bahia and Pernambuco and the city Recife.
Sterner is director of photojournalism programs at D.C.鈥檚 Corcoran College of Art and Design. Prior to the Brazil project, she documented immigration and poverty in the United States and life in Haiti for the Associated Press. From 2001 to 2006, she was a White House photographer.
Sterner鈥檚 work was previously featured in a 2011 exhibit at 黑料正能量, titled 鈥淲omen鈥檚 Apron Stories,鈥� which centered on women in El Salvador.
Turner, a New Orleans native and adjunct professor at the Corcoran, has worked with the Times Picayune and Los Angeles Times newspapers. His work has appeared in National Geographic on subjects including Katrina, the Gulf Oil Spill and quilombos (descendants of runaway slaves who settled on the Brazilian frontier).
The couple will speak at 4 p.m. at the Feb. 14 opening of 鈥淪onhos e Saudades: Tracing Northeastern Brazil.鈥� That evening they will participate in a talk-back following a production of聽Time Stands Still,聽 a Tony nominated play written by Pulitzer Prize winning Donald Margulies, at 7:30 pm in the Eshleman Studio Theater. The play is about a photojournalist who has returned home from covering war-torn Iraq, where she was injured; she must deal with personal issues, including her relationship to her reporter-boyfriend,聽 a fellow war correspondent.