Ticún Brasil and FB gallery join forces to offer you Orfeu Negro. (Opening May 10, 7/10pm) Inspired by classic movie Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus, Orfeu Negro is a photography exhibit that explores myth and reality in today’s Rio favelas. 

   Favela Rocinha is the largest and the most developed shantytown in South America. With roughly 200,000 residents it is located in the heart of one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro.  

   Last summer US artist Lais Lacher volunteered as a photography teacher in Rocinha. At the end of a 2 month course Lais lent the children Nikon cameras to capture their interpretation of the place they call home. The result is Fotos for Favelas series, a plethora of slices of life immortalized by kids with no political filters nor artistic embellishments. 

   Léo Lima (known as Léo do Jacarezinho) was born and lives in Jacare, one of Rio’s 600 favelas. Léo’s pictures have a distinctive poetic immediacy and an honesty that set them apart from most attempts to capture the essence of a favela. 

   The mythological and sensual Rapt of Persephone series of French photographer Konstantin Lunarine offers viewers palpable modern mythology with the artist’s contemporary eye glancing back towards ancient Greek roots.

   The Orfeu Negro exhibit will donate its proceeds to UMPMRS (Union of Women for the Betterment of Roupa Suja), day care center for Fotos For Favelas kids in Rocinha community in Rio. 

   As a bonus there will be great music at the opening by Regional de New York who’ll perform a live set of choro (vintage Brazilian jam) and rare bossa novas by DJ Luiz from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.