father is the son of a maid from whom he
inherited intense dark chocolate tone he
was adopted by those who I know has my
grandparents the matriarch my grandma
has a porcelain skin in a cotton like
her
my grandpa was somewhere between vanilla
and strawberry a good tone like my uncle
and my cousin my mother is a cinnamon
skin daughter of a native Brazilian with
a pinch of hazel in honey in a man mix
of coffee with milk but with a lot of
coffee she has two sisters one in a
toasted peanut skin in the other also
adopted more on the beige side like a
growing up in this family color was
never important for me outside home
however things were different so color
had many other meanings and I’m sure
that you know what I mean in some way I
get to use it with it and a cept part of
it however things inside of me keeps
revolving and photography it was my way
to express my story and this is how you
and I was born human eye is a pursuit to
highlight our true colors rather than
true white black red or yellow
associated with race it’s a kind of game
to question our codes it’s a work in
progress for a personal story to a
global history I portrayed the subjects
in a white background then I choose ask
well of 11 pixels from the nose pink the
background and look for the
corresponding color in the industrial
palette phantom I started with my family
and friends then more and more people
joined at Raintree
thanks to public calls coming through
the social media I thought that the main
space to show my work was internet
because I want to open concept that
invite everybody to push the share
button and both the computer in their
brain the snowball started to roll the
project had a great welcome
exhibitions galleries and museums just
happen in a mall then my favorite when
you and I occupies public spaces and
appears in the street it foster a
popular debate and create the feeling of
community
I have portrayed more than 4,000 people
in 16 different countries 25 different
cities around the world just to show you
some examples for someone included in
the Forbes list to refugees that cross
the Mediterranean by boat in Paris from
the UNESCO headquarters to a shelter any
students both in Switzerland and in
favelas in Rio de Janeiro all kind of
beliefs gender identity or physical
impairment a newborn or a terminal in we
all together build oh man I those
portraits make us rethink how we see
each other when modern science is
questioning the race concept what does
it mean for us to be black white red or
yellow is it the eyes the nose the mouth
the hair oh it has to do with our origin
nationality bank account I grew up in
Brazil a country where a part of the
population has fewer opportunities than
the others they have less access to
study low literacy rates higher
unemployment rates
shorter life expectancy there appearance
is considered ugly their color is
associated with lot of negative
adjectives does this sound familiar I’m
I’m used to deal with stereotypes people
when know that I’m Brazilian generally
think that I’m good on football dancing
singing well when I think I think like a
cat when I dance I have two left feet
and yes I love football as a human being
I have my own misconceptions and stable
types fed by the information that I
receive when I visit in there for the
first time during the daily photo
festival I was surprised it I expect
fine
Brown caramel toffee tones people in the
street and I was surprised by the huge
variety and spectrum of colors that I
find when I’ve been here in some way I
felt at home it was like being with my
family the thing is that I felt at home
but not just in the positive aspects the
saddest – when I was in port rating
people here I started to listen stories
that are deeply connected with my
personal story so I listen about girls
crying in the shower feeling ugly
mothers that tell that children not to
play under the Sun women that someone
than their skin using some paper in
their skin and creams that promise
lighter your your skin 3 tones I was
shocked at how people was fascinated
about white skin probably it’s because
they listened act for their family
friends at school colleagues at work
movie stars
everyday celebrities on television that
judge white as the only beauty the good
thing of this experiment of this
experience is that all these people that
share these sad stories that mean they
jump this barrier so from the intense
Brown through the soft things all of
them were confident about themselves
happy about themselves and proud about
themselves
if India itself can hold the colors of
the entire world why the stigma remains
in the minds of many people we still
have to work hard to finish with this
kind of stereotype we still have to
fight against discrimination because
this is not fair this is not lovely
thank you [Applause]