Thea Segall Archive

Coleccion C&FE acquired the Thea Segall Archive (ATS) in 2018. Its contents include the various bodies of work to which she devoted herself after she arrived in Venezuela in 1958: from the commercial work of her photo studio to the documentary photography to which she was especially committed. In the latter field, her recordings of the Venezuelan indigenous universe and the country’s mining and hydroelectric development, among other subjects, are essential.

Her extensive archive is represented through negatives, slides, gelatin silver print copies, exhibition material, and publications. The Thea Segall Archive also includes the editorial collection of the numerous books in which her work is reflected, as well as an extensive personal library that reflects her interests, among which her adopted country, Venezuela, stands out: its history, its geography, its visual arts, and its literature.

Thea Segall was born in Burdujeni, Romania, in 1929. From 1948 to 1957 she worked for the National News Agency AgerPress in Bucharest. After leaving her homeland, she settled in Caracas in 1958.

In Venezuela, Segall first dedicated herself to taking photographs of social events and eventually acquired a photographic studio. But little by little her activities shifted towards documentary photography and thematic research, with the sponsorship of state institutions or private companies.

Between 1964 and 1970 she worked as a scientific photographer for the anthropology department of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research. Her first research on Indigenous and rural life in Venezuela was between 1970 and 1977 when she was hired by the Office of Indigenous Affairs of the Ministry of Justice. In 1977, under the auspices of Ensal, she photographed the salt mines of Araya and, in the following decade, Segall documented the mining and hydroelectric activity in Guayana.

Her work was portrayed in numerous institutional and corporate publications, such as: Con la luz de Venezuela (1978), Aluminio, un río hacia el futuro (1981), Y Gallegos creó Canaima… (1984), Pescadores de Paraguaná (1988), Fotosecuencias: El casabe. La curiara. El tambor (1988), Puertas abiertas (1991), Lo que miró el almirante (1992), Camino de los arrieros (1992), Caroní (2001), La cuenca del río Caroní (2004), Las tres islas (2006), Bolívar. Tierra de prodigios (2007), among others.

In addition, she had many opportunities to present her work in exhibitions, including those held at the Museo de Bellas Artes in 1978 and at the Centro Cultural Consolidado in 1992.

She passed away in Caracas in 2009.