Copacabana Palace by Peter Bauza

Copacabana Palace

Contemporary Issues, third prize stories

July 19, 2015

A boy flies a kite from the roof of one of the apartment blocks.

Millions of people in Brazil live without secure housing. Government-backed social housing schemes, aimed at reducing an estimated shortage of 5.24 million homes in Brazil, have had limited impact. Some 300 families live in a neighborhood in Campo Grande, in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro, squatting in derelict apartment blocks: the remnants of a failed middle-class housing development of 30 years ago. Residents call the quarter ‘Jambalaya’, after a TV show, or sometimes ‘Copacabana Palace’ after a luxury hotel. Like many favelas and slums across the country, the quarter lacks basic infrastructure and living conditions are poor.

Location: Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Photo Credit: Peter Bauza

Peter Bauza is a German photographer within the documentary and storytelling world.

After graduating in international commerce, he first pursued a career for an international company, which took him to several countries where he also developed his visual language. He is very committed to social and geopolitical issues related to conservation, global health, diminishing cultures, sustainability and the environment. He resides between South America and Europe for now more than 20 years, frequently also traveling to Africa. His life-long respect for multicultural viewpoints fueled by the fluency in five languages also afforded him opportunities.

Peter’s work has been published on Aftenposten, New York Mag, Volkskrant, Stern, Marie Claire, NZZ, doc!Mag, Vrij, Days Japan, NYT Lens, Courrier International, Vanity Fair, VSD, Alma Magazine, ParisMatch, Die Zeit, DF-Duzy, DOUBLETruck, among others. Peter got the international award “Visa D’or 2016 for features”. Furthermore, Peter has received multiple awards and honorable mentions from American Photography, Latin American Fotografia, Los DIEZ by Epson, Px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, Days Japan, MIFA-Moscow International Photo Awards, IPA International Photo Award, among other international awards.

He is the author of the book Copacabana Palace, a sharing life with the “sem teto, sem terra” (roof and landless) in Rio de Janeiro. Generally hidden from view, they represent the dark side of Brazil’s multibillion-dollar spending spree on global sporting events, financial/political and corruption crisis.