Nicola Dracoulis is proud to announce her participation in the Head On Photo Festival, the largest photography festival in Australia, as a featured artist.
‘Viver no Meio do Barulho’ (Living in the Middle of the Noise) is a documentary project based in Rio de Janeiro. In 2006, the Greek Australian photographed nine young people across four favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Seven years on, she has reconnected with those same people to discover what their lives are like now.
While all eyes are on Brazil with the upcoming FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, these everyday stories offer another perspective on a world that is often eclipsed by the media attention on glamorous beach carnival life or dramatic violent crime.
This is Nicola’s first time exhibiting at Head On Photo Festival. Australian born, she spent many years living in London where she completed an MA in Photojournalism. Now Melbourne based, she specialises in documenting youth and community issues.
“A lot of documentary and photojournalism focuses on extreme suffering and I didn’t want do a suffering project, I wanted to do one that had a certain pride and celebration,” Nicola told Neos Kosmos about this project.
“It’s like a ticket to places and spaces that you normally might not get invited into,” Nicola said about her love of taking pictures in an interview last year.
“It’s glimpsing into other people’s world and learning about the world around you, and that’s what I love about photography – it creates an exchange between people and opens up new worlds.”
“It’s really interesting not only how the lives of these people have changed, just by virtue of growing up, but it’s interesting in Rio because the situation for residents in favelas and for the city of Rio has changed a lot with the upcoming World Cup and the Olympics.
“The government is recognising these neighbourhoods – which they didn’t before – and have been trying to ‘clean them up’. And their approach to ‘cleaning them up’ is somewhat controversial.”
Photography plays an important role in educating people about our world and Nicola believes in using photography to promote global awareness.
‘Viver no Meio do Barulho’ will be held at Gaffa Creative Precinct, 281 Clarence Street, Sydney from 29 May to 9 June. Gaffa Creative Precinct is open Mon-Fri: 10.00 am-6.00 pm, Sat: 11.00am-5.00 pm.
