Red Socks by Miguel Rio Branco, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Luisa Strina
Maldicidade, an amalgamation of the French ‘mal d’amour’, or heartache, and the Portuguese word ‘cidade’ for city, is the title of a new edition of the book by French-Brazilian artist, Miguel Rio Branco, originally published in 2014. Also featured in a new exhibition at Gallery Luisa Strina in São Paulo, the works span more than four decades and provide a common thread of otherness that defines life in the contemporary metropolis.
Against the pulsating backdrop of various urban settings from Tokyo to Havana, Maldicidade explores themes of community and struggle that encompass the unique rhythm of life of the sprawling urban plain. With photographs that capture the diverse inhabitants, lurid goings-ons and moments of anguish in the city, Rio Branco, now 72, offers a poetic statement about the societal ills that are illuminated in such compact urban communities. Rather than focussing on elements of architecture and monuments that would mark cultural differences in each location, the photographer tells a story of the struggles, inequalities and daily routines faced by all.
Courtesy of Taschen books © 2019 Miguel Rio Branco
There is a certain charm in the way Rio Branco lenses the recognisable details of the urban underbelly, from chewing-gummed pavement slabs to a paper bag drifting limply across a street. The anonymous subjects of the photographs go about their daily tasks in equally anonymous surroundings. A young girl sells sugary baked goods on a car bonnet as a worn-out and over-crowded vehicle transports unidentified figures, limbs hanging out of the windows, and a pair of children peek through the cracks in a wall of corrugated iron. The geographic location of each shot is not immediately recognisable, nor does it need to be. It is rather the commonality of life on the margins that forms the heart of the collection.
Courtesy of Taschen books © 2019 Miguel Rio Branco
Of finding inspiration in the bittersweet contrasts of city life, Rio Branco explains in his own words: “sometimes I feel revulsion and, sometimes, attraction. But, I still think cities are on an irreversible path to terror after they reach a certain size, after an exaggeration made of millions of people. I do not think large concentrations of people are healthy; today, they seem to me a great attraction to disaster”.
Bandeira, courtesy of Gallery Luisa Strina © 2019 Miguel Rio Branco
Rio Branco, who was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain and is now based in Rio de Janeiro, has forged an international and multidisciplinary career spanning photography, film, and fine art. Having studied at the New York Institute of Photography and at the Superior School of Industrial Design in Rio, he has won multiple awards over the course of his career in the sphere of both photography and documentary, such as the French Prix Kodak de la Critique Photographique. His works, which favour structured narratives over singular, decisive moments, are featured in prominent museum collections around the world including the MoMA and the Centre Pompidou. The new edition and exhibition of Maldicidade features new works that join older photographs which previously only existed as stand-alone works and in photo-book form. Accompanied by texts from independent curator and critic Paulo Herkenhoff, the new book not only showcases the visual collection with vivid, full-page prints, but also offers an insight into the fascinating career and life of its creator.
The Maldicidade exhibition runs from June 5 until July 27 at the Gallery Luisa Strina in São Paulo. The book is published by Taschen and is available to pre-order now.