Tudo Bom 2022 #24 by Alex Majoli

Extract from "Duque de Caixas I" BRAZIL. 2022. Avenida Duque de Caxias.

"Some call it a human zoo or a horror show, others a zombie tourist attraction or Brazil's shame. But the most common name for the district south-west of São Paulo's Luz station is Cracolândia. Drug users, many wrapped in dirty blankets, lie on the pavement or are slumped on stained sofas. Others shuffle along the road, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings." (from The Guardian)

Percentage of the photo goes to NGO : “Teto Trampo Tratamento”

Throughout my career as a documentary photographer, I have experimented with multidisciplinary approaches to add novel layers of analysis to traditional documentary photography. My artistic practice has primarily been driven by the theories of innovative intellectuals representing the fields of psychology, neuroscience, literature, and, increasingly with time, by the art of theater, with a focus on Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. In particular, this is what triggered me to undertake further research on the theater of everyday life. I realized that we all play a part. We wear masks that accommodate fixed societal roles, and in that way, we exist trapped in our own play—here we are, relentlessly acting ourselves. A key to understanding our complex reality, then, could be to acknowledge and question the meaning of the theatrical elements that have constructed its play, our core societal narrative.

Contributing a continuation to the Brazilian body of work included in TUDO BOM, the photographs will retain the DNA of photojournalism—in the strict sense of providing content regarding the current events, but will bring into play an aesthetic that highlights what roles the various characters in this crucial chapter of contemporary history have been assigned, and how they are building particular narratives that shape different groups’ understanding of the issue.

Edition: 1 of 1

Commissioned by Obscura