PÓS-NEW

A photographic novel of a Brasilia that became the true capital of Brazil

There was a time when there was an almost childlike feeling in the city: the discovery of the possibilities of the photographic image with records of the musical and artistic scene in Brasilia. It was at that time, in the increasingly distant 1980s, that the Pós-New agency was created, founded by photographers Nick Elmoor Ricardo Junqueira and Nick Elmoor.

Brasília, the city that was dreamed of by Dom Bosco and invented by Lucio Costa, became a landmark in the history of Brazil. The modernism of Niemeyer’s elegant lines in contrast to the most beautiful sky in the world was also decisive for the birth of cultural manifestations that helped to definitively plant, in the central plateau, the country’s capital. Bands like Legião Urbana, Plebe Rude, Cinco Generais, Arte no Escuro, Peter Perfeito… changed the Brazilian music scene and their strong lyrics, full of identification with young Brazilians, made us less dependent on international pop culture. At that time, Brazilian poems were increasingly sung by Brazilians. Renato Russo certainly touched people’s hearts and souls, much more than the Beatles or Bob Dylan. In short, great artists were like everyone else, without that distant air of an almost arrogant art by João Gilberto or Chico Buarque.

Geração Coca-cola was born in Brasília, who knew that Eduardo and Mônica could be friends on the court, who understood the metaphors of Faroeste Caboclo, who were moved by Tempo Perdido and filled their lungs to sing that Concreto da Rachou. At that time, someone had to register this movement with an intimate look, so nine out of 10 bands from Brasilia passed through the duo’s lens. More:Junqueira and Elmoor also made publicity campaigns, turned their friends into models, and used the streets as a studio. They experimented a lot and enjoyed themselves in equal measure.

This story of sound and light was printed on thousands of negatives, which, after more than 30 years in the drawer due to the diversification of the duo’s professional activities, are starting to come out of limbo. “Honestly, I think we have a treasure in our archives”, explained Nick Elmoor, in an interview in 2009. “We are discovering a lot of things about our way of photographing and how good it was to have lived this period”, highlighted Junqueira, in the same interview with Correio Braziliense.

“Being as new as a city, Brasília should be proud of every moment it has lived. And few moments in the city were as significant as this period. We made our record, an honest and unpretentious job. The city will be proud to see it again”, bets Elmoor. “We are seeing that we had a bigger job than we imagined. Many photos that at the time went unnoticed by us and are actually quite interesting”, comments Junqueira.

Almost all the photographs are in black and white, an aesthetic and economic option for the duo. They themselves developed and enlarged the copies, a handcrafted process that was practically extinct after the arrival of digital equipment. Elmoor highlights the “hunger to experiment” at all stages of the process: for that, it was worth using expired films, streetlights, car headlights, and everything that was at hand. Junqueira and Elmoor point out that the archive does not only contain records of concerts and rehearsals with rock bands. “We photographed the bands, the people from the group itself, the theater, the architecture of the city, all done by young people from Brasilia, who understood the young people of the country, after all, each of us brought a little bit of Brazil when we came to Brasilia with our families”.