Public Engagement
MULTI-MEDIA
Maré from the Inside/Maré de Dentro
Maré from the Inside (Maré de Dentro) is an interactive visual and textual exhibit developed through the collaboration of Brazilian and U.S.-based artists, activists, and academics. It offers rarely captured views into the lives of residents in Complexo da Maré, a group of 16 contiguous favelas (informal and impoverished working-class neighborhoods) in Rio de Janeiro. Maré from the Inside is comprised of 45 family portraits, 50 street photographs, 4 interviews with select photographed families, and 3 documentary films. The exhibit demonstrates the diversity and creativity of the citizens of these communities while exposing the barriers favela residents confront in their everyday lives. In doing so, Maré from the Inside challenges long-standing and powerful stigmatizing narratives and suggests the need for a fresh set of political and cultural strategies capable of breaking the cycles of exclusion and marginalization experienced by favela communities. Click the links below to see photographs of the exhibit and check out the virtual exhibit here.
- Bertelsmann Campus Center, Bard College, Red Hook, NY, February 1 – February 28, 2019
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, Providence, RI, March 5 – May 5, 2019
- Burling Gallery, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA, November 2 – February 19, 2019
- Newman Library, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, VA, May 15 – October 1, 2021
- Matthew Gallery, University of Edinburgh, UK, August 4 – September 15, 2023
- Theatre Arts Building, University of St Andrews, UK, March 15, 2024 – December 2025.
EDITED VOLUME

Maré from the Inside: Art, Culture and Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, co-edited by Nicholas Barnes (University of St Andrews), Desirée Poets (Virginia Tech), and Max Stephenson Jr. (Virginia Tech), is a companion to the exhibition of the same name (Portuguese: Maré de Dentro). Maré from the Inside is published for the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance by Virginia Tech Publishing. In order to reach the widest possible readership, the book is available both as a freely downloadable PDF eBook and an affordable paperback edition. Information on both can be found at https://doi.org/10.21061/mare. The book is also available in Portuguese here.
ONLINE WRITING
- “¿Estará Río de Janeiro más segura después de la Operación Contención? Los estudios sobre la mano dura en América Latina sugieren que no,” El País. November 29, 2025. With Verónica Zubillaga, Rebecca Hanson, Maryhen Jiménez, Juan Albarracín, and Benjamin Lessing.
- “Why the War on Crime Threatens Democracy,” Journal of Democracy Online Exclusives, November 24, 2025. With Juan Masullo and Henrique Gomes.
- “Life in a War Zone: Putting the military in control of Rio de Janeiro’s policing threatens Brazilian democracy,” US News & World Report. Published online February 23, 2018.
- “Mobilization in the Wake of Rio’s Olympics,” Mobilizing Ideas. Published online August 28, 2016.
- “With Brazil in Spotlight, Rio’s Favela Pacification Program at a Crossroads,” World Politics Review. Published online June 9, 2014.
- “Rio de Janeiro’s BOPE and Police Pacification: Fear and Intimidation in Complexo da Maré,” Anthropoliteia. Published online June 6, 2014.
- “The Rio Protests: Who, What, Why and Will They Matter?” The Monkey Cage. Published online June 28, 2013.
MEDIA APPEARANCES
- “Criminalized Governance in Rio’s Neighborhoods,” Orion Talks Podcast, Orion Policy Institute, April 21, 2025.
- “A Look Inside Rio’s Favelas,” on Brazil Unfiltered with James N. Green. March 26, 2019.
- “Governing Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas,” on Trending Globally with Sarah Beneich-Baldwin. March 17, 2019.
- Castro, Montserrat G. “Burling exhibit explores life in Brazil’s Complexo da Maré,” The Scarlet & Black. November 7, 2019.