Benjamin Abrahão Botto (c. 1890 – May 10, 1938) was a Lebanese photographer. He is best known for filming the

Cangaço ''Cangaço'' () was a phenomenon of Northeast Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hard way of life, and in a form of "social banditry" against the government, many men and women d ...

and its leader Virgulino Ferreira da Silva. He was murdered during the Estado Novo period in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Early life

Benjamin Abrahão Botto was born in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. To avoid becoming a

conscript Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

that fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Abrahão migrated to

in 1915. In Recife, he worked as a traveling salesman, selling cloth and small goods. Attracted by the frequency of pilgrims in the city of

Juazeiro do Norte Juazeiro do Norte is a city in the state of Ceará state in northeastern Brazil. It is located 491 km south of the state capital Fortaleza in the semiarid sertão. The municipality has a population of 276,264 (2020 official estimate) and cov ...

, he moved his business there.Artigo
MONTEIRO, Fernando. ''Cinema e cangaço na terra do sol'' in: revista História Viva, edição 23 - Setembro 2005 (página acessada em 12 de fevereiro de 2008). Abahão was the secretary of Padre Cícero and met the cangaceiro

Lampião "Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva (), better known as Lampião (older spelling: ''Lampeão'', , meaning "lantern" or "oil lamp"), was probably the twentieth century's most successful traditional bandit leader. The banditry endemic to the Brazi ...

in 1926 when he went to

to ask for the priest's blessing and seek the rank of Captain, for helping the government in the pursuit of the Coluna Prestes.Matéria
, Virtual Books, página pesquisada em 12 de fevereiro de 2008.

Career

In 1929, Abahão photographed the cangaceiro leader with the priest, two of the most important figures of the northeast region of Brazil. After the death of Padre Cícero, Abrahão asked and received permission from the infamous

to follow his group in the

Caatinga Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...

and take the photos that in the future would immortalize them. For that he had the help of cearense Ademar Bezerra de Albuquerque, owner of ABAFILM, lent him the equipment and taught him to use it. The

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

government, which saw Abrahão as an enemy of the regime, seized his work. He was murdered at

Serra Talhada Serra Talhada is a city in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. It is located at 07º59'31" South and 38º17'54" West, at an altitude of 429 metres. As of 2020, its estimated population by IBGE was 86,915 people. Its area is approximately 2980 ...

(with 42 stab wounds)Matéria
, Virtual Books, página pesquisada em 12 de fevereiro de 2008. without either the killer or the motivation for the crime ever surfacing.

Lampião's Letter

Lampião himself wrote a letter, certifying that his pictures were taken by Abrahão. ''Note: The text below is a translation from the Portuguese original letter wrote by Lampião. It is important to highlight that Lampião was semi-alphabetized and the text may have many errors in the Portuguese version''

Recordings

Abrahão had to work out how to record the group that was running away from the government's increasingly violent pursuit. The meeting occurred in an isolated place of the Brazilian

, where the cangaceiro leader, very suspicious of the man's intentions, he did the first recordings with the photographic equipment himself. Only then did he allow Abrahão to record. Abrahão then returned to Fortaleza with his work obtained more resources to take more pictures of the group. Some started considering Abrahão a suspect because he sent pictures and articles to newspapers describing their adventures, but also for his knowledge of the whereabouts of the group.

Abandon and rescue

On April 7, 1937, newspapers transcribed the order from the director of the national Department of Press and Propaganda (Departamento de Imprensa e Propaganda-DIP) that determined the seizure of the movie "Lampião". Here is the transcription: His works were forgotten until the 1950s when the Getúlio Vagas Foundation incorporated them. In 1999, his life became the subject of the movie '' Perfumed Ball''.História do filme
, com sinopse, e breve biografia de Benjamin Abrahão (página pesquisada em 12 de fevereiro de 2008). In 2000, his work was presented in many expositions in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

.Notícia
in: Folha de S.Paulo, de 9 de outubro de 2000 (página pesquisada em 11 de fevereiro de 2008) File:Virgínio Fortunato e bando NH.jpg File:Maria Bonita MB.jpg File:Lampião MB.jpg File:Dadá e Corisco MB.jpg File:Maria Bonita, fotografada em 1936 por Benjamin Abrahão Botto.jpg File:1886lampiao3g.jpg File:1886lampiao2g.jpg File:Cangaceiro Corisco.jpg

References

External links

Radio France Internacionale: As fotos e o mito do Cangaço.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botto, Benjamin Abrahao Brazilian photographers 1890 births 1938 deaths