"I consider my photographic practice to be a visual investigation."
Mário Macilau (b. 1984, Maputo, Mozambique) is a multidisciplinary artist and activist, best known for his black and white photography. He began photographing on the streets of Maputo in 2003 and turned professional in 2007, trading his mother's cell phone for his first camera. His long-term projects investigate identity, labour and environmental conditions through socially isolated groups, from the street children of "Growing in Darkness" to the e-waste workers of "Profit Corner", built on intimacy, trust and natural light. One of three artists in the Pavilion of the Holy See at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), he has exhibited at Tate Modern ("A World in Common", 2023) and is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the PLMJ Foundation. He lives and works in Maputo.