Project Statement:
In 2013, I started documenting the lives of 400 people squatting inside a 13-floor former office building, located in Sao Paulo´s downtown. During this process, I became part of the community while I was living there, for periods of 6 to 8 weeks at a time, sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. The full body of work consists of a series of photographs, video interviews, and collages.
On the thirteen floors of the Marconi squat, nearly four hundred people are waiting for a dignified housing solution. Within it, the notion of home (a space of emotional relationships and identity), becomes fleeting because of memories and expectations of a more stable future. Marconi is a place where life stories share common experiences of nostalgia and loss.
Artist Bio:
Álvarez (Santiago de Chile, 1988) is a documentary photographer whose focus is on social issues regarding identity and cultural resistance. Alvarez’s work has been exhibited and published in Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, and the USA. Currently based in Denver, CO.
