Category

Fashion

Charity Supported

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Location

Okla Studio

Gear

Canon 5Ds, profoto flash

Description

The Matriarch. This is an unique carnaval outfit part of an yearly tradition from the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. The tradition dates from the time Portugal colonized Brazil. They are called Bate-bolas and even though they are very popular in the suburbs they are little known by the majority of Brazil. Each neighborhood creates their own costumes every year and when Carnaval comes they compete with other neighborhoods to see which is the prettiest. Hundreds of people with different outfits dance on the streets and hit their plastic ball on the floor , the action that gives the name to the tradition. Bate bola, Ball hitter. It is beautiful and scary at the same time. This is a personal project that came from a memory I had. As a child I saw a bate bola and remember being super scared. but as an adult I appreciated it was an amazing costume. This is a project that took me more than a year to achieve. I manage to import the outfits from Brazil with a lot of help from friends and when I got it in the UK I had more help from friends posing for me for free and letting me use their studios. I used the blue background as a reminder of the blue skies Rio de janeiro often has and I illuminated the subject as to get a good amount of the reflections and colours from teh outfits, with a clip light to separate it from the background. This project is my way of documenting a cultural tradition from my homeland that should be seen worldwide.

Photographer

Willie Runte

Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willierunte/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/willieze

Website: www.willierunte.com

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