Miguel Rio Branco Explained

Known For:	photography
Birth Place:	Las Palmas
Notable Works:	Silent Book
Nationality:	Brazilian

Miguel Rio Branco (born 1946) is a Brazilian photographer, painter, and filmmaker (director and cinematographer).^[1] His work has focused on Brazil and included photojournalism, and social and political criticism.^[2]

Rio Branco is an Associate Member of Magnum Photos. His photographs are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Life and work

Rio Branco was born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands.^{[3] [4]} His parents were diplomats and he spent his childhood in Portugal, Switzerland, Brazil and the United States.^[1] In 1976 he moved to New York City, where he earned a BA, and took a one-month vocational course at the New York Institute of Photography.^[1] In 1978, he moved to Rio de Janeiro and studied at the Industrial Design College.^[1]

He has been an Associate Member of Magnum Photos since 1980.^[3] He lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.^[2]

Rio Branco's Silent Book (1997) is included in Parr and Badger's The Photobook: A History, Volume II.^[5]

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^[3]
• Entre os Olhos o Deserto
• Gritos Surdos

Collections

• Museum of Modern Art, New York: 37 works (as of May 2019)^[6]
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 25 works (as of May 2019)^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Miguel Rio Branco. Magnum Photos.
2. Web site: Miguel Rio Branco. 18 August 2017. Wall Street International.
3. News: Reportaje - La dolorosa belleza del mal. Isabel. Lafont. 3 March 2008. El Pais.
4. Web site: Edición del martes, 21 septiembre 1999, página 56 - Hemeroteca - Lavanguardia.es. La Vanguardia.
5. Book: Martin Parr . Gerry Badger . Martin Parr . Gerry Badger . The Photobook: A History, Volume II . London . Phaidon . 2014 . 118 . 978-0-7148-4433-6.
6. Web site: Miguel Rio Branco - MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art.
7. Web site: 2019-05-19. Search the Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art.