Maré from the Inside: Race, Gender and Utopia in Rio de Janeiro's Favelas

Maré from the Inside is an interactive visual and textual exhibition developed through collaboration among artists, activists, and academics. It centres around and displays the intellectual and artistic production of the mostly Black and Indigenous residents of Complexo da Maré, a group of 16 contiguous favelas in Rio de Janeiro's Northern Zone.

The photographs, films, texts, archival materials, and performances that comprise the exhibit present Maré in all its vibrancy, diversity, and contradictions. They do so in spite of the tenacious pejorative frames about favelas that circulate in mass media, public discourse, and research. In so doing, the project leverages art's pedagogical potential with the hope of contributing to a more nuanced public understanding of favelas.

The favela, after all, is both a product of the structural forces of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism that have shaped Brazilian society, and a geography of resistance in which Black, Indigenous, and other marginalised people have refused to be overwhelmed by these interlocking systems of oppression. From this perspective, favelas are also ​​an ongoing project, a desire for utopia, and a dream. They are future-oriented territories rooted in Black and Indigenous ancestry and historical resistance.

The Maré from the Inside exhibition will be open to the public from Friday 4 until Sunday 27 August at the Minto House, 20-22 Chambers St, Edinburgh, EH11 1JZ.

Opening times:

• Friday 4 to Wednesday 9 August: 11am to 1pm and 3pm to 5pm
• Monday 14 to Thursday 17 August: 1pm to 3pm

Opening times and further information can be found on the Edinburgh Fringe Festival website.