Stefania Bril’s Tender Disobedience
The pioneering street photographer documented 1970s São Paulo with gritty realism, humorous juxtapositions, and deep affection.
This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on trends to watch in Latin America in 2025 At first glance, Stefania Bril’s photographs of São Paulo impart a gritty social realism, just barely blunted by witty humor. But in one central image in a retrospective of her work currently on view at the city’s branch of Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), what comes through above all else is tenderness. “Boy reading comics in a supermarket cart” shows an empty street in the wealthy Jardins neighborhood, closed off by the concrete walls of private residencies. A boy lies with his...
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