IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 53
Historical photography
Several inputs from or linked to
photography have been appearing
during more than twenty years of
research on the Afro-Argentinian
culture through fieldwork and review of
archives at the Autonomous City of
Buenos Aires and several locations in
the provinces of Corrientes, Chaco,
Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Buenos Aires.
Following the proposal of historian
Peter Burke (2001), I tried to
incorporate this sources in my writings
not only in their passive role of
ornaments or, at best, in order to
reinforce the argumentation, but rather
as a pivot to generate knowledge sui
generis. In that vein I analyzed (CIRIO
2007c) the Afro-Argentinian music
through
thirty-seven
iconographic
pieces. Here I will focus on the
documented photographic collection of
Rita Lucia Montero, an AfroArgentinean singer of jazz and tango
who also excelled as actress in cinema,
television, and theater. Among his
assets he owned more than five hundred
photos. Thanks to the trust built during
our friendship, I could scan and study
520 photos comprising an extended
period (1875-2013) and reflecting both
her private life (like portraits and family
events) and her artistic career (like
performances and tours). I will present
an overview of this collection and
analyze five exemplary pieces with the
dual aim to account for the richness of
this heritage and to raise awareness of
the importance of photography as
source for studying the Afro
Argentinians. The task is essentially
descriptive and leaves open to future
work the application of theoretical
approaches.
Biographical sketch of Rita Lucia
Montero
She was born on May 4, 1928, as the
youngest of five siblings in a traditional
Afro- Argentinean working middle class
family residing in the Palermo
neighborhood. By the thread of
inherited memories of their elders, she
knew they descended from African
slaves imported to Buenos Aires by
Admiral Guillermo Brown in the mid
nineteenth century. She actually
belonged to the fourth generation of
Afro-Argentinians of the colonial tree.
In the book written at four hands by her
and me (MONTERO and CIRIO 2012),
we included her family tree as a
separate broadsheet. Her interest in the
stage originated just in primary school.
He joined the First Argentinian
Children's Theatre Company, under the
management of Angelina Pagano. In
1939 she made her debut in La
venganza de las mariposas [Revenge of
the Butterflies], by Carolina Adela Alió,
in the movie theater General Belgrano.
By then her father's uncle Vicente
Alvarez, an artistic representative who
provided black actors and actresses to
the entertainment world in Buenos
Aires, brought her to the world of
movies. He debuted as an extra in
Juvenilia (Augusto Cesar Vatteone,
1943) and kept on working as
supporting actress in nine films:
Pampa Bárbara (Lucas Demare and Hugo Fregonese, 1945)
Romance Musical (Ernesto Arancibia, 1946)
María de los Angeles (Ernesto Arancibia, 1948)
La muerte camina en la lluvia (Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1948)
¿Por qué mintió la cigüeña? (Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1949)
Escuela de campeones (Ralph Pappier, 1950)
Sangre negra (Pierre Chenal, 1951)
!Adiós problemas! (Kurt Land, 1955)
Tierra de los padres: Fatherland (Nicolas Prividera, 2011).
53