Renato Parada

A publication that comprises a series of photographic "portraits" of noted authors produced between 2008 and 2021. This term "portrait", originally concerns the paintings and photography representing a person, in which his/her face and expression are predominant. The intention is to show the similarity, personality and even humor of the person. For this reason, in photography, a "portrait" is usually not a snapshot, a snapshot, but an image composed of a person looking directly at the painter or photographer in order to engage the subject with the observer more successfully, says the Oxford English Dictionary that the practice dates back to the 6th century or even before. Editor and publisher from São Paulo Luiz Schwarcz, partner of Cia das Letras and also a writer, reinforces the idea in his foreword: "Portraits make up a story that can be read in multiple ways. Also, that readers and the book industry like and need to know the writers, 'decipher their souls, not just their texts.'" Photographer Renato Parada (São Joaquim da Barra, SP 1981), has been working for the Brazilian editorial group Companhia das Letras for more than a decade, today controlled by the American group Penguin Random House which in turn is part of the Bertelsmann, a German media company. He specializes in portraits, reproduction of works of art and documentation of exhibitions, having, according to himself, photographed more than 250 writers, among Brazilians and internationals. The photographer also has a column "Folha de Rosto" of the São Paulo magazine Quatro Cinco Um, focused on literature. He has collaborated for several international and national publications such as The New York Times, the magazine The New Yorker, and for publications of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (Pina_), among others.