
The "most famous photo" of inequality in Brazil: Paraisopolis, São Paulo.

The favela of Cantagalo overlooks some of the highest price real estate in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro's famous south zone.

This office building and hotel complex reflects the Morro de Providencia favela in Rio de Janeiro.

Favela houses glow orange in the sun during a break in the clouds over São Paulo.

The Jurujuba Yacht Club offers accommodation and berthing slips for sailors in its strategic location in Guanabara Bay. Next to it, across a narrow fence, sits a traditional fishing colony.

Separation in Guarujá, in São Paulo state.

Belo Horizonte is famous for its "beautiful horizon", due to the many rolling hills surrounding this mining town.

A traditional fishing colony sits underneath skyscrapers in Salvador, on Brazil's northeast coast.

Rocinha, perhaps Latin America's most famous favela, sits on a steep mountainside with Rio's famous south zone in the background.

São Paulo, Brazil.

Morumbi - the wealthy area next to Paraisopolis, São Paulo.

Three iconic apartment buildings at the center of Brazilian inequality, made famous by Tuca Vieira.

Sunset over the hills surrounding Belo Horizonte.

Morro de Vidigal is a historic favela which encircles the luxury Sheraton Resort hotel like a set of pincers. On the opposite side of this mountain is the huge favela of Rocinha.

Salvador, Brazil.

Santos, Brazil.

Leme Beach is a lively mix of favela and affluence, that would probably not work in any other city in the world. Here, it's normal - and by and large, people get along.

The largest port in Latin America, Santos, is surrounded by informal homes on stilts extending out over the water called palafitas.

São Paulo.

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.

Vila Autódromo, at the site of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Vila Autódromo has 20 houses today, down from several thousands inhabitants in the early 2000s.

Apartment buildings constructed for the 2016 Olympics sit colorfully alongside the Lagoa de Tijuca, opposite a sprawling favela.

Accusations of corruption and nepotism have dogged Rio developers for years, and the 2014 World Cup 2016 Olympics were at the top of the list for land grab and power plays. Multiple prominent politicians have been jailed or accused of corruption in the past few years, including the Mayor in December 2020.

Copacabana beach at sunset is stunningly beautiful.

Vast differences in the housing stock exist in Salvador, Brazil.

An informal recycler carrying aluminum cans on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro.

A quilombo, or autonomous community of free slaves, still exists amongst the opulence of the Lagoa neighborhood in Rio's south zone.
The word means “an autonomous community of fugitive slaves” in the Brazilian context, and is an important part of Afro-Brazilian history.
The first quilombos emerged in the context of expansion of the colonial economic activity of sugar cane in Northeast Brazil, with resistance as a basic characteristic. Most can be found today in Bahia and Maranhão states, although the most famous was called Quilombo dos Palmares, and was located in present-day Alagoas. It was here that capoeira was said to have been first arisen, and the iconography of this powerful and large “Free-slave community” became a symbol of African resistance.
In Rio there are very few quilombos, however this one (the three buildings in the center of the image) is called Quilombo Sacopã and is located right in the middle of one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Rio (Lagoa). Surrounded by mansions and luxury high-rise buildings, several families continue to live here and resist efforts to buy them out (there is a great interview with José Luiz Pinto, who can trace his lineage back 6 generations, here.
Thanks to the Brazilian Constitution, families living in quilombos are guaranteed the title to that land, meaning that for now, the 32 residents of Quilombo Sacopã and others are secure. There is a growing sense that Brazil is beginning to deal with its history as part of the Atlantic slave trade, examples being a new slave trade museum under construction in Rio and a Black Awareness Day holiday signed into law in 2011. Many feel, however, that it is well past the time for the country to fully account for being the number one destination for African slaves in the Americas, numbering well over 5 million (2 million were sent to the port of Rio alone) Moreover, Brazil’s ethnic geography is vast and while progress is happening in some areas of racial justice, others are notably sliding backwards (treatment of indigenous people in the Amazon, for example).

The Sacopá and Peixoto neighborhoods, near Copacabana Beach.

The Sacopá Quilombo is to the right in the photo (blue tarps).

The Moinho favela is the last favela inside the central district in São Paulo. It sits sandwiched between two train tracks.

Itanhangá Golf Estate, Rio de Janeiro.

Lapa, Rio de Janeiro.

Salvador, Bahia.

A Porsche dealership next to a favela, Belo Horizonte.

The famous Santa Marta favela, Rio de Janeiro.