Peering Upon Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

When you travel, how close do you get to populations that you cannot personally identify with? That is the question that I want to ask with this photo. I spent years running a business consultancy to support a youth organization in a favela in Rio de Janerio. This led me to learning about viewing poverty as a tourist activity. It’s a controversial topic with both benefits and disadvantages.

When I took this photo, I was being shown around the Rocinha, the largest favela in the Americas. A Rocinha native, Deejay Zezinho told me of the growth and development of the favela over the decades. He then showed me the music school he started for local youth.

While working in and researching Brazil’s favelas, I learned about the resilience that people have when they exist on the margins of a society. If you go to Rio, I encourage you to don’t stay peering the favela from afar. Look up Zezinho and he’ll introduce you to some community-based and governmental efforts of poverty alleviation. He’ll show you some of the best views of Rio de Janeiro. You’ll also leave more firmly believing that no matter where we are from, what we look like, or what clothes we wear, at the core, we are all human.

Originally published at https://dogdays.photography on August 14, 2021.