Sala Brazil, Embassy of Brazil, 14-16 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5BL

September 11 – November 7 2014

Sir Benjamin Stone: Observations in Brazil 1893 presents a series of unpublished photographs by the noted Birmingham businessman, politician and photographer taken during a journey to Brazil in 1893. Curated by Rodrigo Orrantia and Pete James from the Stone Collection held at the Library of Birmingham, the exhibition tells the story of Stone’s journey into Brazil as part of a Royal Astronomical Society mission to view and record a full solar eclipse. In addition to recording this natural phenomenon, Stone also made a large series of photographs documenting his journey by sea to Brazil and the people, places and sites which greeted him. A keen observer of people and customs in England, Stone’s images convey the different stories of Brazil, from recently freed African slaves and indigenous tribes of the Amazon to the European settlers, the wealthy and dispossessed, venturing to this land in search of a promising future. In many of these images his subject’s quizzical gaze make it evident that Stone was as much the observed as the observer.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Library of Birmingham, Lucid-ly, The Brazilian Embassy.

It is sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover.

Photo: Sir Benjamin Stone, Visitors to the Eclipse Station on the day of the Eclipse, Paracuru, Brazil, 1893.

Click here for a blog post by Michael Pritchard.