The mural project honouring the Black cultural heritage of Rio de Janeiro – photo essay

Despite its majority Afro-descendant population, fewer than 10% of public monuments across Rio commemorate Black people. Photographer María Magdalena Arréllaga chronicles the project seeking to redress the balance Once home to the world’s largest port of arrival for enslaved Africans, Rio de Janeiro has, like the rest of Brazil, a majority Afro-descendant population. Many of the country’s most prominent Black figures – scientists, lawyers, athletes, politicians, writers, musicians, activists ...

By Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro, photography by María Magdalena Arréllaga