Andrej Balco

From the Project about Domésticas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2007

Andrej Balco (b.1973, Slovakia) received his  Master’s degree in photography at the Institute of Creative Photography in the Czech Republic. His work has been exhibited at the Prague House of Photography, The Leica Gallery, Prague, The Festival of Photography in Lodz, Poland as well as in England, Australia, Holland, Finland, Brazil and Japan. Andrej  is a winner of the PhotoDocument.sk: grant and Changing Faces of the international program of IPRN. He is a co-founder and member of Sputnik Photos collective. His work is distributed worldwide by the Anzenberger Agency.

About the Photograph:

“This photo is part of the series Domésticas that I made through the residential Changing Faces/ IPRN program. The idea  behind the project was to show the coexistence of two different social classes connected by work and explore how they interact and complement each other. The phenomenon of domestic labor is a natural part of Brazilian society that has persisted since colonial times. I portrayed the masters and their servants in the opulent villas, but also in the simple flats whose area does not exceed 30 square meters. The selected image is of my meeting with Anita Prisco and  her lifelong servant Matilde in Anita’s house. Matilda’s service started when she was twenty and over the years  has become a respected member of the host family.”