“Master Bedroom and Maid's Room” is a visual research project developed between 2018 and 2020 in Brazil, where the photographer, professor, and researcher José Afonso Jr. guides us through contrasting spaces and objects with a curious gaze, unveiling the tensions between them. In Brazil, the maid's room is often a small space, poorly ventilated and invaded by odors and noises from the cooking and cleaning activities. In the words of the curator of the project, Eduardo Queiroga, "the maid's room sediments centuries of domination." 

Following the latest advances in the Brazilian legislation, the number of live-in maids dropped, and many maid's rooms have been turned into storage rooms -"another byproduct of consumerism," according to Queiroga. 

The present exhibition features part of the content of the “Master Bedroom and Maid's Room” project. Believing in the power of art to represent complex realities and to stimulate intercultural dialogue, we hope that this exhibition will enhance your understanding of Brazilian society and inspire reflection about the similar challenges faced by countries of the global South. This is an initiative of the Embassy of Brazil in Beirut with the support of the Guimarães Rosa Institute.

José Afonso Jr. (Caruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil, 1969). 

Photographer, professor, and researcher José Afonso Jr. is interested in the relationship between photography and society, history of photography, visual culture, and photography and memory. He works on documentary projects and guides the development of authorial projects by other photographers. In addition to that, José Afonso Jr. is a curator and photography critic. Academically, he holds a postdoctoral degree from Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (2011), a doctoral degree (2006), and a Masters in Communication and Contemporary Cultures from the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil (2000). José Afonso Jr. is an associate professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco where he is a researcher and supervises theses, dissertations and scientific initiations. He always carries a camera and a book in his backpack, and is the father of Helena and João