The Magazine for Leica M Photography

Copacabana in Berlin

04/21/2018, From 27 April, the Friedrichshain Photo Gallery presents the exhibition Copacabana Palace by Leica photographer Peter Bauza. The series has received multiple awards, including the World Press Photo Award 2017 (category: Contemporary Issues – Stories), as well as the 2016 Visa d’Or Feature Award in Perpignan.

In this project, Bauza offers a sensitive and mesmerising insight into everyday life at the ‘Copacabana Palace’ – a nickname given to the ruins of an abandoned construction site located around 60 kilometres outside of Rio de Janeiro. More than 1000 homeless people have occupied the half-finished building, living in its shell without electrics or running water. Many of them have come from Rio’s favelas, sometimes to escape from conflicts or mounting bills.

In order to appropriately deal with such a difficult topic, it was imperative for the photographer to earn the trust of those he portrayed. While the city of Rio was preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games with extravagant investments, Bauza spent several months in the company of those living at the ‘Copacabana Palace’. The result is a comprehensive social study that closely corresponds to the lines of a song by Brazilian musician Francis Hime: “Paradise is here, hell is here, madness is here, passion is here.”

Excerpts from the series are featured in the 5th edition of M Magazine.

For further information visit red:Fotogalerie Friedrichshain$ and Peter Bauza