gal and Hiroshima

Around the age of 10, returning from school, Hiroshima was stoned on the street where he lived. Hiroshima was Rodrigo Pinheiro's nickname in childhood. He was born on the same day as the bomb. His appearance was ambiguous, his body navigated between genders. gal started wearing short shorts as a teenager, then purses. Today, the high heels he wears are often a reason for the family's imbalance.

The stones in the photos were collected in Flamínia Street, Vila da Penha, RJ, where Hiroshima lived. The heels are also real ones. gal was born on the day of the american president who launched the bomb.

Hiroshima

The sidewalks breaks. The asphalt breaks. 10, 20 years. I walk back to the street and collect the stones that are here. The stones of Flamínia Street, from 301 to 10. I imagine they could have been there. Have been the stones. Fátima said it was not possible to calculate their age, the trace gives up. Said it's rubble and asphalt. Common names. I put it on a scale because I can weigh it. 125 grams, 270 grams. I measure. They reached 10 centimeters. Alain Resnais and Chris Marker made a film called "Statues also die". Okay that the statues die because they evoke an idea of life, they manifest what my stones cannot, but I come through this to try to kill them, the stones, or maybe make sure they don't have the same idea. That I haven't been there. Or if I did, that I can calm the memory of pain. It doesn't work, but for the first time I have a chance to say, Look, my legs are bleeding. I couldn't show them to anyone. I wouldn't show them if I could go back. Alain also directed "Hiroshima, mon amour". It was because of that title that my nickname became sweet. The plots of these two films are not our story, I use the titles as I would use verses.

gal

A letter in your hands. The mother reads. Within 2 minutes she remembers everything the letter represents. It is the testimony of Sorrow for no reason, or Forgiveness, or The hidden check. Testimony is the word that is given when a person converts to catholicism and tells the story. I can't try to tell the story in a nutshell, but it evokes two important events. The event of transformation driven by material interest and the event of repentant forgiveness. The mother cries sincerely. She settles on the floor, next to us, to endure the crying and read better. There are 4 pages. A breath comes out, reaches the last page. She puts the letter away. Finds others. All of years ago. In the letters she begs for gal to get a girlfriend. To correct his sexuality. She gives the bible as a gift. Write inside the bible. Keep letters inside the bible because on those pages the requests echoes. Poses for our series. She is more mysterious than all the external evidence known to you until then. She knows that we are two photographers, son and son-in-law, she feels beautiful and does not look away from the lens, she cries with the music that gal chooses, Kiss it Better, by Rihanna. Takes us to a family party as a couple. It's his uncle's birthday. We would have slept in her house for her but we needed to go back. Then gal's whole body does it, I wouldn't be able to say what it is, makes his mother not understand it again. His body wears and acts happiness and fear. His body is the martyrdom of others. You do it. You do more. It's done.

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