23/01/07: Julio Bittencourt
"In a Windows of Prestes Maia 911 Building".
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2007.
The 26-year-old Brazilian photographer Julio Bittencourt has won the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2007 for a series of portraits of inhabitants of a house occupied by homeless people in downtown São Paulo.
With his series he gives a face to the homeless people who have been living in house no. 911 in Prestes Maia Avenue in the heart of São Paulo ever since November 3rd, 2002.
After its occupation by an organization for the homeless, it offers accommodation for over 1200 people.
He approaches the inhabitants as a photographer, without forcing his way into their immediate living space.
In a strictly formal composition, he portrays the inhabitants at each of the 364 windows of the building.
At the interface between the sheltered interior and the unfriendly world outside, they show how much life and security the shabby walls provide.
Signs of dilapidation, such as walls blackened by soot and makeshift patches on broken windows intensify the contrast between the inside and outside world.
The new city government of São Paulo wants to get rid of the glaring social problem in the city center and is planning to clear the building.
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2007.
The 26-year-old Brazilian photographer Julio Bittencourt has won the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2007 for a series of portraits of inhabitants of a house occupied by homeless people in downtown São Paulo.
With his series he gives a face to the homeless people who have been living in house no. 911 in Prestes Maia Avenue in the heart of São Paulo ever since November 3rd, 2002.
After its occupation by an organization for the homeless, it offers accommodation for over 1200 people.
He approaches the inhabitants as a photographer, without forcing his way into their immediate living space.
In a strictly formal composition, he portrays the inhabitants at each of the 364 windows of the building.
At the interface between the sheltered interior and the unfriendly world outside, they show how much life and security the shabby walls provide.
Signs of dilapidation, such as walls blackened by soot and makeshift patches on broken windows intensify the contrast between the inside and outside world.
The new city government of São Paulo wants to get rid of the glaring social problem in the city center and is planning to clear the building.
