A young man rides a horse inside the Morro da Mineira in northern Rio de Janeiro while the city’s financial district can be seen in the background. July 2011.
João Pina
46750
In 2007, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil started the process of an enormous transformation process to host both the 2014 FIFA world cup, and the 2016 summer Olympic games.
The economy was favorable, due to the surge of commodity prices which Brazil vastly produces. The country turned its eyes toward a huge investment in the sports infrastructure, while the investment in public services such has housing, health or security was minimal.
In 2016, while the World watched the Olympics, according to the Public Safety Institute of Rio de Janeiro, homicides went up by 20% and robbery went up more then 40%.
The question that remains in the air is: Why is the price to pay for the major sports events bringing cities to bankruptcy?
46750 is a visual account of the last decade of the city. A grim portrait of the so-called “wonder city”, with all its contrasts and complexities. 46750 is also the number of homicides that occurred in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, an average of 13 homicides per day for the decade 2007-2016.
46750 will be João Pina’s third book and will be published on the spring of 2018. The book is currently in pre-sale
A group of young men and women has fun while water is being sprayed on them from a house during Céu na Terra carnival street party in Santa Teresa. February 2007.
A man serves sparking wine inside a private party held by Neoenergia at the Sambódromo during carnival. February 2008.
View of the Atlantic Forest during a heavy summer rainfall, near the Jardim Botânico neighborhood. February 2016.
Police officers from the Homicide Division investigate a crime scene where one man lays dead between train lines in Madureira in northern Rio de Janeiro, during the FIFA World Cup. July 2014.
Women scavengers go through the trash left behind by carnival partygoers trying to find materials they can resell. Every year during carnival, about 40 tons of trash are produced every night in the Sambódromo, made up mostly of fantasy dresses bought by partygoers, who parade for about one hour with a samba school in the Sambódromo and then leave it as trash. February 2016.
An elderly woman, devotee of Saint George lights a candle on the day that Rio de Janeiro celebrates its patron saint. April 2016.
Young men play soccer at the end of the day in Fazendinha Favela in Alemão complex. June 2014.
Preacher Marcos Pereira da Silva, during his evangelical mass in a prison in Rio de Janeiro.
A tunnel going from western side of Rio de Janeiro to the south side area of Leblon and Ipanema.
A man snores cocaine at the entrance of the Maracana stadium tribune during a football match between Flamengo and Goias. The Maracana is one of the biggest stadiums in the world and will host the final of the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
Policemen from DRAE (Civilian Police division against weapons and explosives in Portuguese) carry the body of a young man, while two children coming back from school look at the scene. This is a case of “resistance to authority.” After allegedly being told to stop by the police, the suspect “resisted” and was shot and taken to the hospital. In 2009 alone, the police officially killed 1049 people with this practice. November 2009.
A man watches television in a bar in the Dona Marta favela. November 2009.
A DRAE agent patrolling from a window, during a police operation in the Mangueira favela to seize drugs and arrest traffickers. May 2009.
A young man, known as “Novinho” and involved with drug trafficking, plays foosball with an assault rifle on his back in Morro do Dendê, a favela where an estimated 50.000 people live in northern Rio de Janeiro. July 2008.
Passistas samba dancers perform during the final rehearsal of Porto da Pedra samba school before their parade in the Sambódromo. February 2007.
A crime scene were 3 people were shot dead inside of a car in a slum in Santa Cruz, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is considered one of the most violent cities in the world, having an average of 18 people assassinated on a daily basis.
Family and friends of Weslei de Oliveira Batista during his funeral. Weslei was a military police officer who was shot dead when he tried to stop a carjacking. Rio de Janeiro is the world’s most dangerous city for policemen – 146 were killed in 2016. Most officers are killed when off duty and identified as a policeman. April 2009.
A young man takes a shower in a public water fountain in the Dona Marta favela. A problem with the water pumps left half of the favela with no water for several days. April 2009.
Young men who belong to the “Third Command” gang pose for a group portrait inside the Parque Royal favela on Governor’s island in northern Rio de Janeiro. The man in the middle in a white coat is “Vesguinho” the leader of the group. He was later killed by the military police in June 2009. July 2008.
A girl looks over her shoulder while she walks in the middle of the street during a police raid in which 400 policemen surrounded Complexo do Alemão, where an estimated 70.000 people live. March 2007.
A view towards the Alemão favela, one of several favelas inside the Alemão complex. While officially 70.000 people live, unofficial numbers suggest that up to 200,000 people actually live in the complex. In Rio de Janeiro alone, an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people live in the so called Favelas, the slums that were illegally settled in the city due to the lack of affordable housing. Most people in the favelas live with minimal or no public services, and most of these areas are under the de-facto control of drug gangs or paramilitary forces. May 2009.
Military policemen line up while saluting the casket of Luiz Fernandes Marques da Silva, a military policeman murdered when he tried to stop a car robbery. July 2008.
An overview of São João Batista cemetery in Botafogo. July 2008.
A civilian police photographs the mugshots of Joao Paulo da Costa a suspect of beeing a drug trafficker arrested during a police operation in Acari slum, Rio de Janeiro.
Two suspected drug traffickers (the center one having 15 years old) are arrested during a police operation in the Acari slum in northern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A woman with a tatoo of christ the redeemer on her back during a meeting with the residents of Vila Autodromo, who are being evicted from their houses for the construction of the olympic village.
The demolition of Perimetral Avenue, a busy elevated highway that used to cross the port region of Rio de Janeiro. During the build-up for the summer Olympics, this highway was demolished and several tunnels were built to divert car traffic from the area, making it prime for new real estate development. July 2014.
Tourists photograph Rio de Janeiro from the Sugar Loaf. One of the city most tourist places for it’s views to the city. The tourists and local middle class are the top drug consumers (mostly marijuana and cocaine) in the city. Drug money fuels the ongoing violence scene in the city for more then 20 years with an average between 18-22 people killed on a daily basis for the past two decades.
Members of the BOPE (military police elite squad) enter their armored car during a Police operation in northern Rio de Janeiro. About 400 police officers invaded the Favela da Grota in Complexo do Alemao. Complexo do Alemao is considered the headquarters of one of the drug trafficking factions in Rio called “Comando Vermelho” Red Command. In the operation, police confiscated assault riffles, an airstrike machine gun, several grenades and cocaine, cannabis and crack.
A man rides a wave at Arpoador beach, Ipanema, southern Rio de Janeiro. April 2016.
Aerial view of the statue of Christ the Redeemer. June 2016.
Bio
João Pina is a freelance photographer born in Portugal in 1980. He began working as a professional photographer at age eighteen, and graduated from the International Center of Photography’s Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program in New York in 2005. Pina’s photographs have been published in D Magazine, Days Japan, El Pais,Expresso, GEO, La Vanguardia, New York Times, New Yorker, Newsweek, Stern, Time, and Visão, among others.
His work has been exhibited at the Open Society Foundations (New York), International Center of Photography (New York), Point of View Gallery (New York), Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York), King Juan Carlos Center – NYU (New York), Canon Gallery (Tokyo), Museu de Arte Moderna (Rio de Janeiro), Museo de Arte do Rio (Rio de Janeiro), Paço das Artes (São Paulo), Centro de Fotografia (Montevideo), Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Santiago de Chile), Parque de la Memoria (Buenos Aires), Torreão Poente – Museu de Lisboa (Lisbon), KGaleria (Lisbon), the Portuguese Center of Photography (Porto), Visa pour L’Image (Perpignan), and Reencontres d’Arles (Arles).
In 2007, Pina published his first book, Por Teu Livre Pensamento, featuring the stories of twenty-five former Portuguese political prisoners. This project inspired an Amnesty International advertising campaign that earned him a Gold Lion Award in the 2011 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and won the OSF – Moving Walls 21 in 2013. He also received the Estação Imagem grant in 2010, and was a finalist for the Henri Nannen and Care awards in 2011, and the Alexandra Boulat Grant in 2009.
In 2014, he finished his longest personal project, documenting the remants of Operation Condor, a large-scale secret military operation to eliminate political opposition to the military dictatorships in South America during the 1970s, resulting in his second book CONDOR.
His third book 46750, to be published on the spring of 2018, will focus on the ongoing urban violence in Rio de Janeiro and the city’s transformation over the past decade while preparing for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
He is a faculty member of the International Center of Photography in New York, and a regular lecturer and teacher of photography workshops.
Currently he is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University for 2017/2018.
Powerful, effective photojournalism. Glad to see it here on BURN.
João – Parabéns !
BTW, what is shown in these images fits right in with the following phrase from an email that I received a couple of weeks ago from a French cinematographer who lives in Rio: “Such is the world and I am more concerned with the local militia and war zones next to my place in Rio…”
That’s some powerful stuff. I’m inherently optimistic about the future of the human race but work like this makes me think.
Powerful, effective photojournalism. Glad to see it here on BURN.
João – Parabéns !
BTW, what is shown in these images fits right in with the following phrase from an email that I received a couple of weeks ago from a French cinematographer who lives in Rio: “Such is the world and I am more concerned with the local militia and war zones next to my place in Rio…”