Joaquim Paiva

“"The image becomes the truth, it largely takes the place of the word; the photobook gives the artist an even greater freedom of creation."”

“"Obsession? Without a doubt! Artists and collectors are obsessive. It is a somewhat pathological thing. For a long time I have been saying I will stop collecting, but I have not managed to yet!"”

“"With the diaries, I am in tune with my lifetime."”

“"I am glad to have brought together such a varied collection from so many photographers. […] Now it is a boom, right?"”

“"The image/word relationship will always exist, but I would like to see more essays, more photography books, in which generally you could think, look and let yourself be carried by the images without reading anything, until reaching your own conclusions."”

“"When I arrived, the city looked more like an architectural model than a real city. The avenues seemed very wide, because there were not many trees, the buildings were new, all white, that enormous sky — it was a very large spatial dimension. Later I realized that work had to be preserved; there were historical images, as I had photographed the manual laborers who raised the monumental buildings of Brasília."”

“"Photography for me is a form of communication with the world, of participation in the contemporary cultural process and of contribution to the Brazilian visual archive. My work as a photographer has been related to my affective and family experience […] and to living in cities where I resided, such as Brasília […]. My work as a collector made me discover the richness of current Brazilian photographic production and how revealing it is of individual expressions and of the cultural diversity of the country."”

“"I also photograph and have my own authorial work. It is not easy to accumulate functions. But also why limit myself to being only this or that? I am not an automatic machine specialized in a single task."”

“"I have specialized in collecting contemporary photographs. If the photography has quality and reflects the photographer's involvement with their work, that is what counts for me."”

“"It is necessary to take into account the politics of your time, the eternal struggle against intolerance, in favor of human rights and of less inequality between rich and poor countries. In this whole context, art and photography are very powerful platforms of resistance."”

“"Perhaps one day the history of photography will be told through selfies. But the great problem will be processing a quantity of images absolutely beyond human capacity to understand. There are trillions of photographs. It is a terrible thing, which frightens us enormously. But the work continues."”

“"Today, the book platform takes on a very large dimension in the world of photography because of the enormous technological improvements in production."”

“"A book is something very important in the career of a photographer and an artist. It is the most enduring way to preserve work for posterity."”