A photographic cut of the contemporary Brazilian family
By Antonello Veneri e Henrique Gomes
Inside the Maré is a photography project and their meetings, born in 2013, from the experiences and reflections of the Italian photojournalist Antonello Veneri and of Henrique Gomes, cultural producer and resident of Maré. Together they did an essay composed of photographic portraits of 50 families, photographed inside their homes, in the favelas that make up the Complexo da Maré, in Rio de Janeiro city.
The project is a result of the complementation of the affective and familiar look from the producer with the documentary eye of the photographer, and proposes to capture, from a poetic and intimate optics, the reality "inside" of the houses and families of the Maré. This essay is a great tale composed of micro-tales about the contemporary Brazilian family, made up of so many, intense and infinite differences.
The project also aims to rescue the language of the portrait of family, and this is a tradition that has been brought along for generations. Perpetuated by the Northeastern migrants who formed and make up the great majority of the Maré population. Over the years, this tradition has been lost, however, it is still alive in the affective memory of the residents.
There is a great production of images that depict the exterior of favelas and peripheries, such as street photography and images that correspond to the dynamics of public spaces and collective coexistence that, almost always show only the aspect of violence or conflict. However, the images that portray the families in their homes, so that they feel represented, are rare, and never systematized.
The portraits were performed between 2013 and 2018, different social and political moments from the recent history of favelas, such as the occupation of the Army and Federal intervention.
The shooting "Interiors of the Mare” has already been published in national and (Folha de São Paulo, National Geographic Brasil, Carta Capital, Vice, National Geographic Italy, Corriere della Sera, Yorokobu) and was carried out also a great exhibition in Maré, but the most important result of the project was to generate a path of dynamics linked to the self-esteem of the photographed and the definition of a human and urban identity.
For this the final objective of the project is the realization of a book with 100 portraits to be delivered to the participants of the "Interior of the Maré” and residents of the Maré Complex.
See more about Antonello Veneri: https://www.instagram.com/antonelloveneri/