Miguel Rio Branco (born 1946) is a Brazilian photographer, painter, and filmmaker (director and cinematographer). His work has focused on

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and included photojournalism, and social and political criticism. Rio Branco is an Associate Member of

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

. His photographs are included in the collections of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

and

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York.

Life and work

Rio Branco was born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. His parents were diplomats and he spent his childhood in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1976 he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he earned a BA, and took a one-month vocational course at the

New York Institute of Photography The New York Institute of Photography (or NYIP) is a for-profit online school based out of New York City, offering different courses in photography to students all over the world. NYIP currently offers ten courses in photography. History The New ...

. In 1978, he moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and studied at the Industrial Design College. He has been an Associate Member of

since 1980. He lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. Rio Branco's ''Silent Book'' (1997) is included in Parr and Badger's ''The Photobook: A History, Volume II.''

Publications by Rio Branco

*''Dulce Sudor Amargo.'' Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1985. . *''Nakta.'' Brazil: Multiprint Grafica, 1996. *''Silent Book.'' São Paulo: Cosac & Naify. 1997. . **Second edition, 2012. *''Miguel Rio Branco: An Aperture Monograph.'' New York: Aperture, 1998. . *''Pele do Tempo.'' Brazil: Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, 1999. *''Entre Los Ojos.'' Barcelona: Fundación "la Caixa", 1999. . Text in Spanish and English. *''Miguel Río Branco habla con Teresa Siza.'' Conversaciones con Fotografos. La Fábrica, 2002. . In Spanish. *''Entre os Olhos, o Deserto.'' Brazil: Cosac & Naify, 2002. . *''Gritos Surdos.'' Portugal: Centro Portugues de Fotografia, 2002. *''Plaisir la Douleur.'' France: Textuel, 2005. . *''Out Of Nowhere.'' Luste, 2009. . *''Você está feliz?'' Cosac & Naify, 2012. . *''Mechanics of Women.'' La Fábrica, 2017. . *''New York Sketches.'' Xavier Barral, 2018. .

Short films by Rio Branco

*''Trio Elétrico'' *''Caveirinhas'' *''Nada Levarei Quando Morrer'' = those who owe me will be charged in hell – 20 minute documentary with still and moving images *''Entre os Olhos o Deserto'' *''Gritos Surdos''

Collections

, New York: 37 works (as of May 2019) *

, New York: 25 works (as of May 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Branco, Miguel Magnum photographers Brazilian painters Brazilian photographers Living people 1946 births Brazilian film directors Brazilian contemporary artists