Homeless Children in Gangs On Brazil’s Violent Streets

Today advicesisters.net is featuring a guest article by photojournalist Viviane Moos, because her worthy project needs our help.  Please read about her efforts to chronicle the plight of homeless children in street gangs in Brazil, and her goal to track them now,  as adults. The photos in this article are just a small example of her work.   —Alison Blackman, The Advice Sisters

 I am Viviane Moos, a photojournalist, and artist. When I first started my career I was an inexperienced, female photographer wanting to do a story that everyone told me was  ”  “too dangerous to accomplish”, and which ” no one was interested in.”   I was too stubborn to listen and instead I followed my heart.  So I set out, 21 years ago, to tell the story about the struggle for survival of homeless child street gangs on the violent streets of Brazil. I spent nine months over a period of 4 years earning their trust and sharing their lives.   Brazilian Street Diary is the result of my experiences. The book is both a photographic and written diary that I kept while I was shooting.  It describes what I was seeing and experiencing, in addition to the images that I captured.

Now I am looking for supporters to help me return to Rio to finish the last chapter of my story. Although I have won many awards for my work, I have always felt that I needed to return to see what had happened to the adult survivors of the streets, the children that I once knew.   When I pitched this book to traditional publishers, they felt it wouldn’t be commercial enough to make enough sales. 

 

Some might think that finding these street children as adults is nearly impossible, but with assistance from Remer House, the shelter where I spent many weeks photographing some the children in the story, I know I’ll be successful. But to make this project a reality, I am inviting you to become a co-publisher of my project. 

I have already raised about 25% of the funds so far, but to bring this book to life, I must reach my Kickstarter goal of $20,00 by December 21st.  If I don’t reach my goal, Kickstarter won’t release any of the money that has already been pledged and the project won’t move forward. This is why even a small pledge of $5 or $10 is important to me.  Please go to my video link on Kickstarter and view the short video explaining the project, then make a pledge.  Help me give a voice to the voiceless children of Brazil – and the world community. The deadline is Dec.20^th Thank you for reading this guest article on advicesisters.net, and thank you for your support.     Viviane Moos, photojournalist

 

About Viviane Moos:   I was raised in Europe, and my work has been published and exhibited all over the world. Here is what Peter Man, International Coordinator, World Hunger Year and Harry Chapin Media Awards said about my work:    “Viviane Moos’ photography provides an x-ray of society’s soul.”

Another colleague, David Brommer wrote: “Viviane Moos takes you down the street less traveled by showing images from her “Brazilian Street Diary” a brilliant account of child street gangs in Brazil she shot over 25 years ago.   Shot in the tradition of Bresson’s gritty black and white, Viviane documented a much different world than the typical North American street photographer could capture. Passion, evocative, and emotional are just three words to describe the project of this acclaimed journalist. Tale a rare look into a visionary photographer as Viviane explains how she was able to infuse so much life into a dark subject matter such as street gangs of Brazil.”