Land of Black Milk

Photos by STEFANIE MOSHAMMER

This story appeared in the September issue of VICE magazine.
Vienna-based photographer Stefanie Moshammer's new photo series, Land of Black Milk, applies her penchant for capturing colorful glimpses of a city undergoing a transformation. It's a photographic essay, amassed as a set of visions, offering hints of lives in contemporary Rio de Janeiro. Some of these photos were taken in different favelas and others around the city of Rio de Janeiro. In 2012 police pacified one favela in particular, Santa Amaro, in order to fight the criminal organization Comando Vermelho (CV). Since then, the CV has still existed—just on a different scale. The police and the gangs now seem to have some kind of an arrangement. To even be allowed entry, you need to be accompanied by a native, who can then introduce you to a gang member. Moshammer received this access through a friend who lives in the favela, and she made it apparent that she was not a photojournalist who set out to "prove" something.
This series is due to be released in book form in October and is on the Unseen Dummy Award Shortlist.