Spread on the narrow littoral between rain forest-clad mountains and infamous beaches, the city of Rio de Janeiro is A Cidade Maravilhosa. This collection of images, from blessing to bloodshed, hopes to give a glimpse of the city's crooked smile.
Practices for Carnaval --the three-day event that annually brings the country of 160 million to a complete halt -- are held by organizations called samba schools. For months in advance of the event these groups write songs, practice samba rhythms, sew costumes and construct huge floats for the mamouth parades in Rio's Sambadrome.
Vigário Geral is one of Rio's more than five hundred favelas, or slums. It is notorious for the violence produced by warfare between resident drug traffickers and Rio state police. In 1993 twenty-one residents were killed -- allegedly by off-duty police -- in a night raid on the slum. This is a collection of photos from stories on the resident da Silva family and the Casa de Paz, a community center built in a house where eight of the twenty-one were found dead.
