On the 31st of July of 2012, Rio de Janeiro was awarded the
Unesco World Heritage status for its Urban Cultural Landscapes.
The decision was the first of its kind. With the arrivals of two
mega-events, the 2014 Fifa World Cup and the 2016 Olympic
Games, Rio is getting ready for a radical transformation. Major
building constructions are changing the urban landscape and
the relocation program that is undergoing in many areas, may
also change the social geography, pushing the poor into the
suburbs. The Unesco award also mentioned some of the famous
beaches of Rio and this photographic project focuses on them.
At a time when the city is going through a strong social
contrasts and its historical memory itself seems in danger, the
beach becomes, symbolically, the only place of democracy and
remembrance. In Rio de Janeiro the beaches are not just a
material place, but rather a state of mind, a soul experience.
Since they were children, the "cariocas" learned to share their
emotions and passions with the sand. So the beach becomes
the set where life can daily represent itself in a more theatrical
manner, appearing as if immersed in an illusory world. A
moment for dreaming, of intimacy, of confessions, when reality
enters a more dreamlike vision, retrieving perhaps a deeper
sense of things. A surreal place where appearances count for
less and where consciences can reveal themselves. Only by
spending a lot of time wandering through the beaches and
photographing their atmospheres, is possible to understand the
deep identity of the carioca's life.
