anderson zaca

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So Much From So Little: A Brazilian Way of Living is a visual documentary of a way of life of a largely unseen but incredibly remarkable segment of the Brazilian population— the classe media baixa (lower middle class) and the pobres (poor). Photographer Anderson Zaca traveled throughout Brazil to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Goias, spending time with these people. Three distinct, but connected motifs emerged from his journey: crianças (children), cruzes (crosses), and caras e caminhos (faces & roads).

Seu Benedito 2002

The children are the starting point of the journey. Living on the streets or in destitute conditions at home, at a very early age they learn how to take care of themselves. What stood out to Zaca was that despite the abject poverty and abandonment that many of them faced, they still had big dreams. They were still children—curious, playful, and loving. This youthful innocence sustains them.

As these children grow older and the childhood innocence gives way to the realities of everyday life, something else helps them move from day to day. They turn to God…Se Deus quizer (God willing), tomorrow will be different. Brazil is a country steeped in religion. The majority of the population is either Catholic or Baptist. In a Brazilian person's first days of life, he is baptized into a religion. It is only after this occasion that he is gradually baptized into his Brazilian identity. In a nation of people who are constantly intoning the name of God, cruzes are the evidence of this omnipresent subconscious backdrop, this undying faith and hope in a better future.

The photos in Caras e Caminhos are portraits of individuals who have been hardened by this life. It is an up close look at the people who work so hard, some for almost nothing to take home at the end of the day. Armed with their faith and with a fierce will to survive, they make a way out of no way, make so much from so little. This is the Brazilian way of life.

© Anderson Zaca