Retratistas do Morro/Afonso Pimenta
(Brazil. 1954)
Retratistas do Morro/Afonso Pimenta (Brazil, 1954) is a project conceived by artist and researcher Guilherme Cunha. It presents the collection of photographers Afonso Pimenta and João Mendes, who were responsible for taking photographs in the Serra neighborhood of Belo Horizonte. At the Mercosul Biennial, we will exclusively show a series of photos by Afonso Pimenta with images of the Black Soul balls held in Belo Horizonte in the mid-1980s. In the 1960s, Pimenta left São Pedro do Suaçuí (MG) for Belo Horizonte and learned to take photographs in the 1970s, precisely with João Mendes, owner of Foto Mendes, who was his neighbor. Pimenta's career took off in the early 1980s when he began photographing the soul balls organized by Misael Avelino dos Santos, one of the founders of Rádio Favela. Over time, he recorded several balls throughout the city and demonstrations that affirmed the power of black cultural identity in Belo Horizonte. The work of Retratistas do Morro is part of several national and international collections and was recently transformed into a book. Afonso Pimenta lives in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
