In 1971, Claudia published the photo-essay ‘A Sônia’ in the first issue of Revista de Fotografia (Photography Magazine, June 1971), whose then-publisher was George Love. According to Andujar, the essay took up 10 film reels which were rephotographed. The essay was presented as slide projections at MASP in 1971, to the sound of ‘I Had a Dream”, by the singer-songwriter and founder of the band The Lovin’ Spoonful, John Sebastian.
Sônia
“Sônia came from Bahia. She wanted to be a model. She reached out to publishers and the studios of many photographers but couldn’t find work. That’s when I met her. Sônia did not display the features commonly associated with models. Something about that young lady made a strong impression on me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept her address. It wasn’t long before I called her. We did that shoot. Then, no other opportunities came up, and Sônia went back to Bahia.
For me, the human body is the most beautiful object there is. That is why for years I’d had this dream of shooting a photographic essay on the physical shapes of women, to be able to reveal their essence. In today’s world, men aren’t as aware of their own bodies. This awareness, when it’s clear and sought-after, mysteriously heightens the beauty and meaning of the body, as if it gave it color. And so, I feel that women are blue and men, grey. The fascination a female body can exert upon those that observe and study it transcends sensuality, making it the perfect object of art creation.
And being a woman, it’s also possible that in doing an aesthetic essay on female physical forms, I am seeking a reflective, idealized identification of what I am unaware of in my own body. And yet I cannot explain why Sônia, the young woman all my peers had turned down as a model, was a perfect match for my essay. And what’s more, why would Sônia’s blue body become the revelation of the images from a dream?
On the first day, after an hour of photo- taking, I had to interrupt my work. Sônia didn’t know how to pose. But that’s exactly where her innocent charm came from. Her nonprofessional gestures and attitudes revealed an easygoing, peaceful sensuality. She no longer seemed to be facing a photo camera, she seemed removed from the world. I tried to figure out that other world by having her pick one out of a handful of records. Sônia listened to several ones and then she kept replaying this one song: I Had a Dream, by John B. Sebastian, which the songwriter himself sang with an acoustic guitar at the Woodstock festival. Coincidentally, that was one of my favorite songs. Sônia didn’t understand a single word from the lyrics. We got back to work as the song played, and she’d spontaneously make these dreamy poses, unaware that Sebastian was singing about a dream. And so, Sônia also revealed to me what I had always hoped to capture in a woman’s body. And the photo-essay I was creating came together in a definitive way through that song. It was a dream, or better yet, I’d had a dream at some point in my life, and I was deciphering it in my work with Sônia.
All I used was an all-white background. I spent three hours taking conventional photos, and not that many, considering this was such an important professional job to me: 10 36-shot reels. My intention was to take simple, direct photos. With those photos in place, a more complex and creative, albeit fully planned out stage, began. I called that stage the reconstruction, or elaboration, of Sônia’s image. The week I rephotographed the selected images, I made all kinds of edits using different color filters, developing film into positives as well as negatives. I eventually arrived at 90 slides: the ideal sequence. Sebastian’s song was at work in my subconscious, arousing my sensibility and intuition. I’m not sure whether it was the actual song or what it represented to me at those moments. By the time I’d finished, I could argue that Sônia no longer existed. I designed the series for myself. The joy I felt assured me that that old dream had come true.”
Claudia Andujar
In 1971, Claudia published the photo-essay ‘A Sônia’ in the first issue of Revista de Fotografia (Photography Magazine, June 1971), whose then-publisher was George Love. According to Andujar, the essay took up 10 film reels which were rephotographed. The essay was presented as slide projections at MASP in 1971, to the sound of ‘I Had a Dream”, by the singer-songwriter and founder of the band The Lovin’ Spoonful, John Sebastian.
Sônia
“Sônia came from Bahia. She wanted to be a model. She reached out to publishers and the studios of many photographers but couldn’t find work. That’s when I met her. Sônia did not display the features commonly associated with models. Something about that young lady made a strong impression on me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept her address. It wasn’t long before I called her. We did that shoot. Then, no other opportunities came up, and Sônia went back to Bahia.
For me, the human body is the most beautiful object there is. That is why for years I’d had this dream of shooting a photographic essay on the physical shapes of women, to be able to reveal their essence. In today’s world, men aren’t as aware of their own bodies. This awareness, when it’s clear and sought-after, mysteriously heightens the beauty and meaning of the body, as if it gave it color. And so, I feel that women are blue and men, grey. The fascination a female body can exert upon those that observe and study it transcends sensuality, making it the perfect object of art creation.
And being a woman, it’s also possible that in doing an aesthetic essay on female physical forms, I am seeking a reflective, idealized identification of what I am unaware of in my own body. And yet I cannot explain why Sônia, the young woman all my peers had turned down as a model, was a perfect match for my essay. And what’s more, why would Sônia’s blue body become the revelation of the images from a dream?
On the first day, after an hour of photo- taking, I had to interrupt my work. Sônia didn’t know how to pose. But that’s exactly where her innocent charm came from. Her nonprofessional gestures and attitudes revealed an easygoing, peaceful sensuality. She no longer seemed to be facing a photo camera, she seemed removed from the world. I tried to figure out that other world by having her pick one out of a handful of records. Sônia listened to several ones and then she kept replaying this one song: I Had a Dream, by John B. Sebastian, which the songwriter himself sang with an acoustic guitar at the Woodstock festival. Coincidentally, that was one of my favorite songs. Sônia didn’t understand a single word from the lyrics. We got back to work as the song played, and she’d spontaneously make these dreamy poses, unaware that Sebastian was singing about a dream. And so, Sônia also revealed to me what I had always hoped to capture in a woman’s body. And the photo-essay I was creating came together in a definitive way through that song. It was a dream, or better yet, I’d had a dream at some point in my life, and I was deciphering it in my work with Sônia.
All I used was an all-white background. I spent three hours taking conventional photos, and not that many, considering this was such an important professional job to me: 10 36-shot reels. My intention was to take simple, direct photos. With those photos in place, a more complex and creative, albeit fully planned out stage, began. I called that stage the reconstruction, or elaboration, of Sônia’s image. The week I rephotographed the selected images, I made all kinds of edits using different color filters, developing film into positives as well as negatives. I eventually arrived at 90 slides: the ideal sequence. Sebastian’s song was at work in my subconscious, arousing my sensibility and intuition. I’m not sure whether it was the actual song or what it represented to me at those moments. By the time I’d finished, I could argue that Sônia no longer existed. I designed the series for myself. The joy I felt assured me that that old dream had come true.”
Claudia Andujar