Signed; Cristina de Middel - Sharkification - 2015

Signed Copy.
1st edition of 1500 copies.

Rio de Janeiro has been in the spotlight in 2014 and will be present also during 2016 after the World Cup and the coming Olympics. This generated a sudden domestic interest for cleaning the international perception of the city; an image that could hardly avoid the recent “cleaning” campaign from the government in the favelas.

Sharkification is about the “favelas” and the Brazilian government’s strategy to attempt to control them during the soccer World Cup by involving armed units. It created a militarisation of the communities, where suddenly everybody becomes a suspect. The shark metaphor aims to explain the dynamics into place. “I used the comparison with a submarine world to imagine that the favelas are a coral reef where there are predators…” When most of the photojournalists keep trying to play with feelings, Cristina de Middel uses humour, which seems to be a more intelligent way to look at things and that helps people becoming more curious.