The Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography is pleased to announce Javier Álvarez’s PRÉDIO, which documents the 13 floors of the ‘Marconi’ squat, where about 400 people occupy offices adapted into rooms of 50 to 100 sq ft, under the uncertainty of a decent housing solution. Within it, the notion of home (a space of emotional relationships and identity) becomes as unstable as the memories and expectations of a steady future. Marconi is where life stories share experiences of nostalgia and loss.
During the ’90s, workers and proletarian social movements began to break into abandoned buildings in São Paulo, Brazil. Today, more than 40 self-claimed organizations squat’ in hundreds of abandoned properties, allowing families, immigrants, students, or workers in a homeless situation to live in these places.
Several life testimonies from the residents of Marconi invite us to ask ourselves how deep we can see within our cities and how we deal with housing problems. Who organizes? Where is the actual crime in all this? To whom is it visible, and who is not? ‘PREDIO’ encourages dialogue about an urban crisis within a South American historical context and what we leave behind in our identity and collective memory.
About the Artist
Javier Álvarez is a Chilean documentary photographer focused on social issues. After pursuing a BFA in Photography, Javier worked as a freelance editorial and press photographer for agencies between Brazil and Chile. Based in Brooklyn (NY), Alvarez works as an independent photographer for media outlets and commercial clients.
His work has been awarded by Aperture Foundation, Visura, Reminders Photography Stronghold, EnFoco, Photoville, Festival Internacional de Fotografía de Valparaíso, Paraty Em Foco, Chilean National Endorsement for Arts and Culture, and the Chilean National Photojournalism Awards.
Image Credit: Antonia, 2014 © Javier Álvarez, Courtesy of the Artist