Rio consists of a slipcase containing the work of two photographers who portray Rio de Janeiro in a visual dialogue spanning different centuries. Book one showcases nineteenth-century photographer Marc Ferrez’s classical work on the city where he was born and spent his life, from the mid-1860s to the early 1910s. Ferrez’s complete archives of glass plates and vintage prints are today housed at the Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) in Rio de Janeiro and have been scanned anew for this edition.

Book two presents a project developed by IMS with Robert Polidori over the past five years, for which Polidori extensively photographed Rio, emphasizing its contemporary dynamic and dense urban configuration. Polidori contextualizes today’s Rio within the natural settings from which the city grew, and which have defined its iconic international profile throughout history. This tension between the natural and built environments, also significant in Ferrez’s work, is a defining reference for Rio’s inhabitants and shapes both their past and present cultures.

Co-published with Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro

Reviews:

DIE ZEIT:
"In einem schönen, zweibändigen Doppelporträt von Rio de Janeiro konfrontiert der Steidl Verlag Polidoris Arbeiten nun mit historischen Aufnahmen vom Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts." 11. Juni 2015

The Guardian
One city, two centuries: Rio then and now – in pictures