The Photographer Who Saw the Brutality and the Fragility of Authoritarianism

Fifty years ago, Augusto Pinochet staged a violent coup in Chile. Evandro Teixeira went to the capital and captured startling images of soldiers, protesters, and the funeral procession of Pablo Neruda.

via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-photographer-who-saw-the-brutality-and-the-fragility-of-authoritarianism

Teixeira’s photos in Chile are the main subject of a retrospective at the Instituto Moreira Salles, in São Paulo, from March to July. They provide haunting depictions of the aftermath of a military coup, when quotidian life is assaulted by a new regime that has claimed for itself a right to extrajudicial violence. I recently met Teixeira at the institute’s offices in Rio de Janeiro, along with the organizers of the upcoming exhibition. Teixeira is burly, and spoke with a raspy drawl, partly a result of age and partly from a recent battle with covid. He described his Santiago trip with a mix of gravity and mischievousness that seemed typical of not only his personality but his style.