In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building by Julio Bittencourt

Julio Bittencourt was born in Brazil, grew up in São Paulo and spent his adolescence in New York. In 2000 he began his career at the photo department of Valor Economico, the major financial publication in Brazil where he worked as a staff photographer and as assistant-editor for four years. Since 2006 Julio has been working as a freelance photographer for magazines, newspapers, advertising and corporate clients in Brazil, Europe, Canada, Japan and the United States, in addition to his personal projects. Julio’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and published in magazines such as Geo, National Geographic, Stern, Le Monde, The Guardian, Esquire, Leica World Magazine, among others.In 2008 he published his first book, In a window of Prestes Maia 911 Building, which was awarded the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Julio currently lives in São Paulo.

The Prestes Maia, was the largest squatted highrise building on the South American continent. Originally, 468 families or 1,630 people, lived in the 22-storey highrise since 2002. . All of them were homeless people who have settled in the abandoned building. The photographer Julio Bittencourt records the tower?s residents as they appear in weathered window frames.