Photojournalism analysis of Rio orphans, circa 1990s

This piece of photojournalism is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the 1990’s, a place where poverty and slums are at their worst. The photo shows a close up of a child in the foreground, with three blurry figures in the background. Two are standing-up with an arm around a shoulder and the other is leaning up against the wall. They are standing in a corridor and there is light streaming in from behind them. The boy’s facial expression is full of sad and sorrowfulness. The connotation of the photo gives us more understanding. Because we know the photo is from Brazil, we can understand there is the possibility of poverty, starvation and terrible living conditions. Also in Brazil there is a high amount of orphans and ghetto’s especially in Rio. Therefore this photo could be showing us orphaned children in an orphanage. And so, it gives us or me a strong emotional attachment to this photo as I am a child myself, and couldn't

possible imagine what it must be like living like they do. We now understand why the child’s expression is so sad. Because he is living in a poverty stricken ghetto in Rio as an orphan.  Certain messages we get from this photo, are the obvious messages such as poverty, sadness, poor conditions etc. Overall just this photo gives us a slight insight on how bad their lives must be, from a day to day basis, and we should always think ourselves lucky for being where we are today.