Miguel Rio Branco

Miguel Rio Branco

…my color, when I look at it now, I see it as not being really very colorful. Most were monocromatic, with some red and sometimes some blues here and there. Never the whole rainbow. One of the things that shows is that there is a dramatic use of color, and this relates a lot to my painting background. But painting is not only the background since I am still painting again since the mid-eighties . The other link is with cinema and music…So my photographic style is basically a non-linear style, which depends very much on the construction of the images, the poetic links created with the images, and not with a linear aspect of framing and use of light and color.

- A conversation with Miguel Rio Branco interviewed by Jörg M. Colberg (Magnum blog)

Miguel Rio Branco, photographer, painter and filmmaker was born in Spain (1946) and works in Rio de Janeiro. A son of diplomats, spent most of his childhood in Portugal, Switzerland, Brazil and United States. In 1964 his first exhibition of paintings takes place in Bern. After relocating to New York for his studies, in 1966 he starts a one-month photography course at the New York Institute of Photography. Two years later, he moves to Rio de Janeiro where he continues his studies expanding his career in photography and film making.

From 1980 he begins collaborating with Magnum Photos as a correspondent. He has been awarded the Prix du Livre Photo at the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, France (1997) and best Cinematography for Memoria Viva e Aboliçao at the Brazilian Film Festival(1988).

Honors and Awards (selection)
Prix du Livre Photo, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France, 1997
Brazilian Film Festival (Best Director of Photography for Memoria Viva and Abolicao), Brasilia, Brazil, 1988
Special Prize for video Apega-te-Sèsamo, Festival International Short Films, Salvador do Bahia, Brazil, 1986

Publications
Plaisir la douleur, éditions Textuel, France 2005
Entre os Olhos, o Deserto, Cosac & Naify, Brazil 2002
Gritos Surdos, Centro Portugues de Fotografia Portugal 2002
Pele do Tempo, Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Brazil 1999
Miguel Rio Branco, Aperture (USA) 1998Silent Book, Cosac & Naify Brazil 1997
Nakta, Multiprint Grafica e Editoria Ltda Brazil 1996
Dulce Sudor Amargo, Fondo de Cultura Economico, Mexico 1985

Solo Exhibitions (selection)
Miguel Rio Branco, Imhotim, Belo Horizante, Brazil 2010
Museu de Tudo, Garage Salles, Itaipava, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2007
Dislecsia, Art Gallery Millan, São Paulo, Brazil 2007
Art Gallery Oliva Arauna, Madrid, Spain 2006
Out of Nowhere, Groninger Museu, Groninger, The Netherlands 2006
Dislecsia, Noorderlicht Photogallery, Groninger, The Netherlands 2006
Por Baixo dos Tubarões, Silvia Cintra Art Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2006
Rencontres d’Arles, Église des Frères Prêcheurs, Arles, France
Plaisir La Douleur, Maison Européenne de La Photographie, Paris, France 2005

Collective Exhibitions (selection)
Piscinas, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2005
Bresil = Foot Art” Galeria 1900- 2000, Paris, France 2005
Espelho Meu, Centro Cultural Belém, Portugal 2005
Brazil Body Nostalgia, The National Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan 2004
Arte Contemporânea no Atelier Ibere Camargo, Atelier de gravura da Fundação Ibere Camargo, São Paulo,
Brazil 2004
Revisitar Canárias, Centro de Arte La Regenta, Las Palmas 2003
Gran Canaria, Galeria Elba Benítez, Madrid, Spain 2003

www.miguelriobranco.com.br