Making the City Geographic by Looking at Photographs

Abstract

Reading cities can be done through different sources. Gazing as a tool formaking cities geographic is used in this article to treat photographic representations of Caicó, a city located in the Seridó region of Rio Grande do Norte State. The book Álbum Fotográfico de Caicó (1995) is a rich source of images of this city which permits contemplating its urban space. To read the images geographically a number of ideas from different authors is used: from Manguel (2001) that images and words are the matter of which we are made, the concept of image from Bachelard (1993), Foucault’s similitude perspective (1988) and Morin’s notion of complexity (2008). The combined approach results in a strategy of looking at urban images geographically, elucidating memories, sensations and reveries concerning city space.</p