Imagens do Povo

Imagens do Povo (Images of the People) is a photography collective located in Nova Holanda, a favela in Rio de Janeiro that aims to democratise access to photographic language. It is a node for training, networking and the insertion of popular photographers into the job market, developing actions across education, communication and art. Its focus is on promoting documentary photographers whose work values the histories and cultural practices of favela communities. The programme combines photographic technique with social issues, recording the daily life of favelas, using a critical perspective that takes into account human rights, culture and place. In this process, photographers and communities rescue and strengthen their identity ties through the use of photographic language, which becomes an instrument for accessing and mapping different cultural expressions of the places where they live. The collective’s politicised and humanist photographic practice produces images of powerful, joyous and creative favelas; contrasting with dominant representations of favelas as spaces of need and violence. Favelas are also often regarded as peripheral in the mass media and collective imagination, contributing to their marginalisation and exclusion. However, favelas are often located within the centre of the city and Imagens do Povo present these informal urban settlements as much more than a response to housing demand; representing them as legitimate expressions of lifestyles that have the power to revolutionise the city and overcome its inequalities and socio-spatial hierarchies. Therefore, Imagens do Povo affirm the periphery as the centre and create, develop and expand, both materially and symbolically, the contemporary city.