Leonardo Finotti's Drone Project Documents Brazil's Pandemic Necropolitics at Latin America's Largest Cemetery
Since the onset of COVID-19 a year ago, architectural photographer Leonardo Finotti has been capturing the Cemitério da Vila Formosa in São Paulo, Brazil. Spanning 78 hectares, this cemetery is the largest in Latin America. As Brazil’s death toll rises, surpassing 360,000 with daily fatalities exceeding 3,000, the landscape is increasingly barren, with graves being cleared and new ones excavated. Finotti, in collaboration with architect Michelle Jean de Castro, visits the site weekly for his project, titled Necropoli[s]tics, inspired by Achille Mbembe's 2003 essay 'Necropolitics.' President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic has drawn severe criticism, leading to legal actions at the International Criminal Court, while protests have branded him 'Genicida!' Over the past year, Vila Formosa has seen the hiring of 30 additional gravediggers.
Key facts
- Leonardo Finotti documents Cemitério da Vila Formosa, Latin America's largest cemetery, using drone photography.
- Brazil had over 360,000 COVID-19 deaths, with a seven-day average exceeding 3,000 daily deaths at the time of writing.
- Finotti's project, Necropoli[s]tics, references Achille Mbembe's 2003 essay on necropolitics.
- President Jair Bolsonaro faces legal cases at the International Criminal Court for his pandemic actions.
- Dimas Covas of Butantan Institute accused Bolsonaro of practicing social Darwinism.
- Bolsonaro reportedly turned down 700 million vaccine doses from eight manufacturers in 2020.
- Finotti collaborates with architect Michelle Jean de Castro and visits the cemetery weekly.
- Municipal authorities employed 30 additional gravediggers at Vila Formosa in the past year.
Entities
Artists
- Leonardo Finotti
- Michelle Jean de Castro
- Achille Mbembe
- Anna Maria Maiolino
- Jair Bolsonaro
- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
- Dimas Covas
- Eduardo Galeano
Institutions
- Cemitério da Vila Formosa
- International Criminal Court
- Butantan
- Museu de Arte de São Paulo
- Congress
- Artreview
Locations
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Latin America
- The Hague
- Netherlands
- Cameroon
- Uruguay
- Rio de Janeiro
- China