Rio de Janeiro: Favela and Asfalto, by João Pina
João Pina, opens up a fearless view into the parallel universe of Rio de Janeiro: Favela and Asfalto. It is quite rare that one gets such an up-close and personal look inside the slums of Rio de Janeiro. One can see hand-to-hand drug dealings, young gangsters posing with their weapons, as well as a priest who has made exorcism his mission, because he feels there is no other hope left for these young men. It is a captivating journey through the somber reality of this antithetic megacity, Rio de Janeiro.
João de Carvalho Pina was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1980 and started working as a photographer at the age of 18.
In 2002 he started working in Latin America, and has worked in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba and Paraguay.
In 2004-2005 he decided to go back to school and enrolled in the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program of the International Center of Photography in New York, USA.
In 2007 he published his first book “Por teu livre pensamento” featuring the stories of 25 former portuguese political prisoners, with his colleague and friend Rui Daniel Galiza who wrote the texts.
His work has been published in The New York Times, Newsweek, GEO Magazine, El Pais, EPs, La Vanguardia Magazine, D Magazine, Io Donna, Days Japan, Expresso and Visão among others.
He has exhibited his work in New York (ICP and Point of View Gallery), London (Ian Parry Award), Tokyo (Canon gallery), Lisbon (KGaleria and Casa Fernando Pessoa) and Oporto (Centro Português de Fotografia).
Since late 2007 he is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he continues to document the remnants of a military operation named Operation Condor aimed at destroying the political opposition to the military dictatorships in South America during the 1970s.
He is a member of the Portuguese collective Kameraphoto since 2003.
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