A story after Marielle's death

Marielle was a human rights defender. Woman, black, queer and Rio de Janeiro city councilor (the fifth best voted in 2016), she used to fight for the favelas like Maré, where she grew up.

Marielle symbolized the force of the people in politics, she was a brilliant diamond among all corrupt politicians we are sick of. She was our hope and she still is.

They buried Marielle and they planted many seeds. Since the barbaric assassination, I was immersed in the repercussion, covering demonstrations and religious acts.

I also met her family and other important characters of this story. Thinking in a way to explain this whole situation for who is not from Rio nor Brazil, I decided to create a story with the material I captured during the seven days after Marielle's dead.

This is what I saw and what I've documented in the first week without Marielle. She left us, but her legacy will live forever. Marielle, Presente!

(click on the picture to see full gallery)

(click on the picture to see full gallery)

Marie Claire Brazil April 2018 is out

Last month, I did two special portraits to Marie Claire Brazil. The first person was Marinete da Silva, 66 years old,lawyer, Marielle Franco's mother. She received the reporter and I at her home for a long and unforgettable talk (article by Luiza Karam, in Portuguese).

And the second person I photographed was Jurema Werneck, Amnesty International Brazil's director. Powerful woman who had grew up in the favela, just as Marielle, and became leader of the activist organization in Brazil.

(click on the image to enlarge)

On the cover of Folha de São Paulo

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On March 17th I was on assignment for Folha de São Paulo newspaper to cover a social action promoted by the Brazilian army, the mayor and the governor at Vila Kennedy. The place, in Bangu, suburb of the city, is "a model" to the federal intervention on Rio de Janeiro's public security.

A picture I took during this assignment was published on the cover the day after (March 18th), on Sunday edition of the newspaper. The image shows a simbolic hug between the mayor, Marcelo Crivella, and the interventor, General Walter Braga Netto, Brazilian army's leader.

The federal intervention was a polemic decision made by the governor Luiz Fernando Pezão (who lost control of the security because of the corruption in his government) and the presidente Michel Temer, (who has popularity near zero), both members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party.

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Portraits for Marie Claire Brazil

I did two portraits for Marie Claire Magazine's latest edition, February 2018. It was a pleasure meeting two strong women: Nilza Valéria Zacarias and Flora Gil. 

Valéria is a feminist and journalist who fights to bring the religious discussion to the table with a lot of respect and intelligence. And Flora is a powerful business woman in the artistic sector.

You can read the articles online (in Portuguese) here & here.

The conductor Sarah Higino for TPM Magazine

I discovered Sarah on a TV show. I was amazed by her sweetness and her work teaching music for public school’s students from Volta Redonda (in the suburbs of the state of Rio de Janeiro).

Then I wrote the project and “sold” it to TPM, women’s magazine published by the publisher “Editora Trip”.

The story is about Sarah Higino, this incredible woman with a magic transformation power through the music. To see the story published on the online version of TPM, click here. And click on the picture bellow to see full story. Both in Portuguese.

2017 is not finished yet: newest work is out now!

My latest job was an assignment for UOL to cover one day in a life of a person who was victim of racism in 2017. This story is part of a series of four articles on relevant issues for our society this year.

The photos are part of a video narrated by the character itself and can be watched (in Portuguese) here.

Personal work about the Brazil's worst environmental crime

It's a new gallery about retired fishing nets of Regência, a small fishermen village in Espírito Santo. The workers had to stop fishing after the mining disaster in Bento Rodrigues (Minas Gerais). When In November 2015, the Fundão dam, controlled by Samarco S.A., suffered a failure and the toxic mud came to river Doce like a tsunami, killing 19 people and reaching 39 municipalities.

These scenes are the picture of neglection and hope.

(click on the picture to check the pictures)

(click on the picture to check the pictures)

Article about humanitarian crisis in Europe

I start my collaboration with Atados Rio writing an article (in Portuguese) about the refugees crisis in Paris, France. Atados is a Brazilian NGO that promotes connection between volunteers and a large number of social works.

I've been in the city for a couple of weeks in August and could see how different the speech and the reality are. The government is trying to sell a humanitarian camp as successful but people on the streets are not seeing that at all.

Understand here.

The BIG Project: our latest story is out!

The BIG Project is like a school for me. It’s the space where I can practice everything I’ve learning about photography and storytelling. 

It’s a (virtual) place created by Guiga Pirá and I to hit, to make mistakes and to create our own perspectives of the stories we want to share.

It’s been amazing this journey of learning how to be better with each story we’ve documented and, of course, seeing the project getting bigger.

Today, I’m so glad to share with you our latest story, about a very special guy in Rio de Janeiro who you should know and get inspired by: Ed Bastos.

(click on the picture to check the story)

(click on the picture to check the story)

Portraits for UOL

My latest job was published today on UOL: Rio has more than 1 million people unemployed. The article, wrote by Carolina Farias, is in Portuguese. I did portraits of Tatiana and Alexandre, two cariocas in this difficult situation. 

Tatiana Cristina da Silva, 34 years old, is a single mother with three kids and without a job since 2013. And Alexandre Silva, 42 years old, never had a regular job and nowadays works in downtown Rio for a store that sells jewelry -- he earns 50 reais a day.

Update: A man who had seen the article and the pictures sent me an email asking for Tatiana’s contact. She then told me that he gave her money to help the kids and herself! 

Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro - from 10 October to 31 March 2018

My work Proudly South African, made last March with an analogic camera, is now part of the exhibition Mwana: Childhood and Race Relations in Brazil and Africa, in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Promoted by the university, the exhibition also features photos of Stela Caputo, a photographer who developed a work about kids and african religions in Brazil for 25 years.

You can attend Mwana untill March 2018, from monday to friday, from 9am to 9pm, in the university campus at Urca, Av. Pasteur 250. 

Rock in Rio 2017

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Last Rock in Rio was the fourth time that I worked on the coverage for Multishow, the main entertainment channel in cable television that covers the whole festival on live TV.

This time, like in 2013, I worked as an online reporter responsible to write about the 28 shows that took place on the Sunset Stage. I was part of a very good team and the experience was amazing to practice this other side of myself.

Bellow are some reviews I wrote (in Portuguese):

- Nile Rodgers arrebenta tudo no Palco Sunset e faz festa inesquecível

- Com Supla como convidado, Doctor Pheabes mostra que estreia no Rock in Rio vai muito além do patrocínio da área de saúde

- Johnny Hooker, Liniker e Almério: juventude talentosa abre os palcos para a nova música brasileira

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A Clandestina campaign

It's out now the new campaign for A Clandestina, a handmade jewelry shop based in Rio de Janeiro. Aline Pommer is the model, Bruna Sussekind was responsible for the styling, Amine Chalita for the make up, Mariana Sixel for the hair and Junior Reis did the retouch. 

You can see all the pictures here, in COMMERCIAL page.

L'été à Paris

After two days walking around Paris, I had some street photography material and I've decided to create a new gallery called "l'été à Paris" (or "the summer in Paris" in French) to publish it. All the pictures are in black and white because I feel more comfortable without colors. Hope you like it.

Click here to see the entire gallery.

General Strike

Protest against Michel Temer and the reforms his government proposed in Brazil's social security system, during a national general strike, on June 30th, 2017, in Rio de Janeiro.

War in Rio

On June 28th, 2017, residents of Pavão Pavãozinho slum, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, wanted to protest against the violence in their community, but they were unable to because of the violence itself. 

In the same afternoon, police was there for an operation against drug dealers, and during a violent clash a resident was dead and four others were injured. In Rio, days like these are not unusual once again.

Gui Blum

Latest photos: Gui Blum portraits. Styling by Rafael Joaquim and production by Dandara Almeida. The photographs were retouched by Vecks. Special thanks to Fábrica Bhering :)

See more here!