The ZONE initiative was launched in 2015 by the Kolor Art collective in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The project is split into different photo series called “zones”, each defined by a distinctive theme, style and atmosphere.
The latest series is a tribute to the surging blend of two emancipating forces: feminism and the afro culture. Today black women in Brazil are taken hostage by both racism and misogyny. While facing a large array of issues including sexual abuse, domestic violence, police brutality, cultural stereotyping, income inequality, lack of healthcare and education etc. They are also heavily underrepresented politically and in the media. They have been recently taking their struggle to the streets, to social networks and to the stage of larger, mainstream music and art festivals. The Kolor Art collective is taking part in this movement via visual provocation. These sets were build and the photoshoots took place in the collective’s studio, in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. The models, performers, actors, drags featured on the photos belong to Rio’s militant anarchic-humanist microcosm and had a great influence in the conception of characters and scenes. The other key ingredient being the photographer’s distinct use of theatrical and glam-trash aesthetics.
The Kolor Art collective was born in 2015 as a creative base organizing nonconformist art events and photo shootings in Brazil. Paul Kurucz is the collective’s Franco-Hungarian founder and photographer, who launched Kolor in 2011 in Budapest, Hungary before moving it in Rio and transforming the concept to include authorial, provocative photography.
