After the success of Cabanagem (featured in numerous lists as one of the best photobooks of 2015), Missão Francesa is the second book of André Penteado’s project Rastros, traços e vestígios.
In this project, André uses photography to explore historical events which took place in Brazil before the invention of photography, seeking to create images that help reflect on the impact they had on the national spirit.
To this end, he photographs the places where these events took place and also objects and people who, in some way, are related to them, such as collections and descendants of the participants of the historical moment.
Rastros, traços e vestígios is not a documentary project, but aims to discuss the process by which the past is reinstated in the present, what constitutes as a document and how historical narratives are created and perpetuated.
“French mission” is the name given to the group of French artists who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in March 1816, with the aim of instituting the teaching of the arts in the country based on the model of the French Academy, which led to the creation of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts.
