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The authorities detained him while he donned a bright yellow ski jacket, reclining in a side yard gazing up at the trees.
Next to him lay a lengthy apparatus that might have appeared to be a rifle.
They assumed he was a sharpshooter.
He was present to take photographs, but not in a sniper manner. Joe Reynolds is a photographer with a tripod (not a firearm) by his side. He aimed to capture the intertwining lines of wisteria vines that had overrun the trees against the backdrop of the overcast sky.
“It appears quite delicate,” he remarked to the officers regarding the nature of wisteria, which he enjoys photographing because many would claim it has no place being there. “Observe how the light shines through. It’s remarkably beautiful.”
They opted not to arrest him.
Once he displayed his photographic equipment to the police, he was released immediately. There was more wisteria and some kudzu to photograph.
Joseph Bernardo de Mattos Reynolds, age 50, resides in Lawrenceburg, works as a photography educator at the University of North Alabama and teaches art appreciation at the University of Tennessee Southern (he additionally works as a server in Franklin) and is captivated by elements that are often seen as not quite belonging. His family hails from Brazil, and he was brought up in a Portuguese-speaking household in Chattanooga.
The theme of not belonging is his narrative, one he resonates with deeply.
The main driving force in his life is a trip to a small municipality in Brazil, where he has visited at least 25 times throughout his life. Since 2008, his attention has been focused on Cristalandia in the Brazilian state of Tocantins, where he has been on a mission to discover universal beauty in an impoverished area.
He has received five grants for his photographic endeavors, and his work was exhibited by the Tennessee Arts Commission for one month in 2019.
Whenever he visits Brazil, regardless of whether it is to observe affluent communities or less fortunate ones, he noted that the locals only perceive him in a specific manner …
As an American.
“The U.S. is not always viewed positively,” he stated. “The U.S. (is seen as) a cultural aggressor.”
Despite his mother, Nilza, being as Brazilian as one could possibly be, he explained. Although he grew up surrounded by “imported Brazilian culture” such as rice and beans sautéed in olive oil and garlic and the sweetest flan. Reynolds learned about how Brazilians were pioneers in photography and aviation (you can research both and find compelling arguments).
He continues to sense a disconnection from something, from everything.
Roots in Brazil
Nilza migrated to the United States from Brazil in 1960 through a program called “Exchange for International Living.” Chattanooga served as the host city.
“She adored it,” Reynolds recalled about his mother, who passed away in 2014. She told her son that she “encountered a wild American.”
His name was Jasper, a native of Tennessee. They wed in 1969 in São Paulo, then relocated to Chattanooga. One of three brothers, Reynolds was born in 1974.
“I grew up as a Chattanooga kid, but they were unsure how to handle me,” Reynolds reflected.
He trained as a competitive swimmer, with aspirations of participating in the Olympics. However, when he couldn’t achieve the desired speed, he turned to journalism, then hospitality. He relocated to the Boston area, and his career was always somewhat unsettled. He held positions as a whitewater rafting guide, a cook in a Harvard dormitory, and a personal assistant to a bank manager.
In 2002, both a former girlfriend and his mother gifted him cameras for his birthday.
“I returned mom’s,” he admitted. “She was not pleased.”
He began enrolling in courses at the New England School of Photography.
“It was a delight,” he reflected.
Yet, he did not complete the program. He moved back from Boston to Tennessee. He resumed taking photography classes at East Tennessee State University.
Affection for Cristalandia
Photography enchanted Joe Reynolds.
“I articulate my connection with my environment through a camera,” he stated.
In 2008, during a journey to the savanna region of Brazil, he encountered Cristalandia. And something clicked.
He aspired to demonstrate that beauty is universal. It cannot be excluded (as he felt sometimes).
There exists allure, for instance, in a gleaming automobile, regardless of whether it’s situated in Cristlandia or Nashville. There is charm in an individual’s grin. There is splendor in a weathered hand, in a farm creature, in a climbing plant.
His collection brims with images like these: an elderly man with vitality, a blossom emerging from a darkened area, a small child in an enormous pit.
“I wish for individuals to engage with photographs,” he articulated. “I am guiding you to cultivate connections with anyone near you. I aspire for you to discover links in my creations despite their unfamiliarity.”
The endeavor that has consumed his existence is termed “In Communion with Soil.” Up to this point, it consists of hundreds of monochrome images of individuals, locales, and objects in and around Cristalandia.
Perhaps one day he will document his photographs and assemble them into a book. He’s uncertain at this moment.
Until the publication materializes, he will persist in seeking grants for additional journeys to Brazil. This marks the 16th year of his “In Communion with Soil” initiative.
“I have gained humility,” Reynolds expressed. “I have learned to intrude with inquisitiveness. I want individuals to inquire, ‘What are you doing here?'”
Even if it involves law enforcement.
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