João Castilho

João Castilho was born in 1978 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He graduated in 2001 with a degree in journalism, completed with studies in Contemporary Arts and received his Masters in Visual Arts in 2009. Together with Pedro David and Pedro Motta, João Castilho collaborated on the project Underwater Landscape for six years, a merging experience between different forms of photography. The project, depicting the lives of three families in the Jequitinhonha Valley, has been exhibited widely, amongst which at the Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groningen, in 2005 and was published in 2008 by Cosac Naify. In 2007 Castilho received a grant from the Rijksakademie and Rain which supported a residency in Bamako, Mali, for 3 months, where he mainly worked on the project Between Rivers. Castilho received the Brazilian National Arts Foundation's Grant and in 2008 the Conrado Wessel Foundation's Prize of Photography, one of Brazil's most prestigious photography prizes, which allowed him to work full time as a visual artist in photography, video, installation and art research. João Castilho has already held solo exhibitions, mainly in Brazil and Bolivia and has exhibited at several festivals and biennales. His images have been published in National Geographic Brasil, Le Figaro, Bravo Magazine, O Globo, Folha de São Paulo. Whirlwind and Vacant Plot are two series presented together. Anchored in the tradition of the Latin American Magic Realism, Castilho deals with mythology and archetypes in Whirlwind. Using the same saturated colours and creating the same vibrant, uncanny atmosphere, he portrays the attempts of some unemployed people to relieve their boredom in Vacant Plot.