Positively Pernambuco – a story of hope in Brazil

Photographer Paulo Almeida has long been inspired by Pernambuco, the north-eastern state of Brazil in which he grew up. “What I saw and felt as a child are feelings I’ve tried to capture or recreate every time I’ve had the opportunity to photograph there,” says Almeida, who now lives in Paris. He was particularly taken with the quilombo of Mata de São José  – “quilombo” being the term for settlements made by escaped slaves, often many centuries ago. This one, lying…