Felipe Romero Beltrán
Felipe Romero Beltrán (CO, 1992) is a Colombian photographer currently based in Paris, France. His artistic endeavours are deeply rooted in exploring social issues, with a particular focus on the tension that arises from the introduction of new narratives within the realm of documentary photography.
Felipe Romero Beltrán’s practice is characterized by its commitment to long-term projects, accompanied by research on the context of his work. He pursued his academic journey with an interest in photography, culminating in a PhD in 2024.
Project
A Body That Speaks As a Bird
“Article XXIX. The following are vulgar and uncivil acts in conversation: imitating other people, imitating the voice of animals or any other noises, talking while yawning, speaking in a low voice to one person in front of another…”. – The Manual of Civility and Good Manners for the use of schools for both sexes, by Manuel Antonio Carreño.
Between 1940 and 1980, more than 70% of the rural population in Colombia migrated to urban centers. People accumulated on the outskirts of Cali, Bogotá and Medellin, which became densely populated. The people all had to make the gradual transition from the countryside to the city. They had to forego life as they had known it; they had to behave in a different way. Various books were published to facilitate this transition.
Article XXIX, although in a veiled manner, details this transition: 'Do not imitate the voice of animals or any other noises', it says. Its contents form the basis for managing uncivil people in the city. The sound of birds and the origin of the word photography are closely related. Thr naturalist painter and inventor Hercule Florence (1804-1879) coined the word photography at the same time as he developed another recording technique in Brazil. He intended to transcribe birdsong onto paper using a system of notations that made it possible to identify the disembodied vocalisation of a bird in the city, far from the forest. In this sense, Hercule Florence developed two key inventions: techniques to record light and to record bird vocalisations. Although the link between both techniques, photographing and recording the voice of an invisible body, is little known today, the techniques are intrinsically connected. After all, the body remains.
Imitating the sounds of birds in the city is still uncivil. A Body That Speaks As a Bird is a project structured using Manuel Antonio Carreño’s manual. The photographer’s family, originally from the mountains in the highlands of Colombia, in the process of moving and adapting to the city, studied the manual. Does the multiplicity of voices still reside on the muted surface of the city?