DUALIDADE Photography Book

 Dualidade, the story of a culture shock after a bus ride

Dualidade, the Portuguese word for Duality became the name of Frederick Van Grootel’s self funded photography project. In 2018, when visiting Rio de Janeiro for the fourth time, the photographer had an aha-erlebnis when he found himself in a culture shock after only a short bus ride. In 20 minutes he went from working with impoverished children to a rooftop pool party in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods.

Then and there it became clear that the common thread in the photographer’s work had been the juxtaposition of these extreme realities all along.

Rio de Janeiro can be a tropical paradise on one hand and one of the most unequal cities in the world on the other. The city’s unique geography lends itself to beautiful images of surreal situations. Van Grootel, now dedicated to photograph both sides of Brazil’s reality went on to study the culture and language. The collection of his best images were bound into this limited edition photo book. 

Specs:

Size: 250x200x15 mm

Weight: 0,6 kg

Language: English

Material: Softcover

Back: OTA-bind

Pages: 176

Release Date: December 2019

Frederick Van Grootel is a Belgian photographer that is best known for his vibrant work from Brazil. Van Grootel invested the earnings from his freelance work into his annual 30 day photography trips to Brazil. Once there, his curiosity led him to all sides of Brazilian society, resulting in photographs that document the juxtaposing socio-economic extremities.

Each year, the Belgian gained a better understanding of the Brazilian culture to be able to go more in depth and capture a complete story. Eventually, in 2019 he launched his photo book ‘Dualidade’, and ended up winning the public prize at that years Brussels Street Photography Festival, with his photo of a homeless man on the  boulevard of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.

Van Grootel has exhbited his work from Brazil in his city of Antwerp, the capital Brussels and New York.