Cidade de Pedra — Antoine d'Agata
Between 2005 and 2009, Antoine d'Agata spent the greater part of his time in Cracolândia — the crack neighbourhoods of São Paulo and Salvador, among the most marginalised areas in Brazil. Cidade de Pedra is the most comprehensive document of that period, gathering 169 images, more than 140 of them previously unseen.
The book presents, in d'Agata's own words, "a measured and enigmatic edit of black and white images — of bodies and skin, rocks and the moon, landscapes and birds." Individual photographs suggest distinct stories, yet the work as a whole resists any singular reading. D'Agata has described it as "an unfinished diary of fragile and innocent interactions" — a formulation that captures both the intimacy and the incompleteness the work deliberately holds onto.
Published by Void Photo, the book is structured around 57 unbound folds across 228 pages, a format that reinforces the non-linear, accumulative logic of the edit. Text by d'Agata appears in French, Portuguese, and English. Design and editing are by João Linneu; printing and binding by MAS Matbaa.
Part of the broader Photobooks catalogue at Lokator100, Cidade de Pedra sits alongside other works that treat the photobook as a considered object rather than a simple vehicle for images.
Credits
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Photograph & Text: Antoine d'Agata
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Design & Edit: João Linneu
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Printing & Binding: MAS Matbaa
About Antoine d'Agata
Antoine d'Agata was born in Marseille in 1961. After years of political militancy and travel — first through Central America, then across several continents — he arrived in New York in the early 1990s, where he studied photography at the International Center of Photography under Larry Clark and Nan Goldin. During that period he also worked in the editorial department of Magnum. His first two books, De Mala Muerte and Mala Noche, were published in 1998; Hometown followed in 2001, the year he received the Niépce Prize for young photographers. He has continued to exhibit and publish regularly since.
