In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building

Winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award

In March 2006 the residents of 911 Prestes Maia, a twenty-two story ramshackle tower block in the center of sprawling Sao Paulo, Brazil, learned that they were to be evicted. The building, neglected by its landlord, had been empty for over a decade. In 2003 the “Movement of the Homeless” had moved in hundreds of families. The new residents created homes and a thriving community from squalor and neglect, complete with a library, workshops, and other educational activities. In this collection Julio Bittencourt records the tower’s residents as they appear in weathered window frames. It is powerful and thought provoking.