Bruna Braz: The Fight and Enchantment for the Cerrado

At 28 years old, Brazilian photographer Bruna Braz builds a photographic trajectory that unites socio-environmental activism, cultural documentation, and the decolonization of imaginaries. Working as a Socio-Environmental Analyst at the Instituto Sociedade População e Natureza (ISPN – Society, Population, and Nature Institute) and as a freelance photographer, she develops work deeply rooted in the defense of Brazilian biomes and the traditional peoples who inhabit them. Her lens – initially influenced by visual arts and drawing – has transformed into a tool for making urgent causes visible, always guided by the principle that image creation is a way to challenge hegemonic narratives.

Her image “Cerrado Ablaze” a finalist in the Single Image category of the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025, is a visceral document of the devastation of the Brasília National Park. Captured after the fires that consumed over three thousand hectares of conserved Cerrado in 2024, the photograph captures the environmental tragedy through a baby tapir spotted by the wildlife rescue team – found lifeless days later, with burned paws and damage from smoke inhalation. More than a denunciation, the image synthesizes Bruna’s commitment to socio-environmental themes, a result of her collaboration since 2021 with the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação em Biodiversidade (CBC/ICMBio – National Center for Biodiversity Research and Conservation). The work exposes with poetic rawness the impacts of human action on ecosystems, echoing her search for photographs that break romantic idealizations and show the bare reality of the open wounds on the planet.

Learn more about this trajectory that unites expeditions, quilombos (maroon communities), and the defense of the Cerrado in the following interview.

How old are you? Where do you currently live and work?

I am 28 years old, I live in Brasília and work at the Instituto Sociedade População e Natureza (ISPN), where I act as a Socio-Environmental Analyst and occasionally collaborate as a Photographer. I also work as a freelance photographer for cultural projects and events. Furthermore, I carry out independent authorial photography projects.

Tell us about your journey in photography. When did you start photographing and why? What role does photography play in your life?

My interest in photography arose from a connection with the visual arts, as I studied drawing for several years. Photography entered my professional trajectory in 2019, a time when I became more deeply involved with socio-environmental projects. Therefore, from the beginning, my focus was on documentary photography of peoples, traditional communities, and biomes. Since then, I have had the opportunity to photograph in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Caatinga biomes in various locations and contexts. Among them, I highlight the photographic production I have developed in the Quilombo Kalunga (Goiás), the largest quilombola territory in Brazil, where I have worked since 2021. There I have built a relationship of trust with the people and deepened my understanding of the local culture and the territory.

For me, photography is a tool for enchantment, decolonization of imaginaries, and making important themes visible. I believe that image creation is also a way to challenge narratives and deconstruct stereotypes and hegemonic views about traditional peoples and communities. Currently, I have been interested in producing images that show the dialogue between tradition and contemporaneity, breaking romantic and colonizing idealizations about peoples and cultures.

For me, photography is an instrument of struggle and connection with the land, with spirituality, and with people who hold ancestral knowledge. That’s why photographing inspires me greatly, as it is an exercise in presence and listening, and it is also an opportunity for exchange and learning.

Tell us about your finalist work for the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025. When and where was it created? What is its concept? How does it fit into your photographic practice?

The photo was taken after the fires in the Brasília National Park, which consumed over three thousand hectares of conserved Cerrado areas in 2024, causing damage to the local fauna and flora. The photo shows a baby tapir spotted by the wildlife rescue team in a burned Cerrado area. The calf was found lifeless days later, with burned paws and physical damage from smoke inhalation.

Since 2021, I have collaborated with the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação em Biodiversidade e Restauração Ecológica – CBC/ICMBio (National Center for Research and Conservation in Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration), whose headquarters is inside the Brasília National Park. Based on this previous professional relationship, I was able to record the damage from the fires on site, using photography to expose the impacts on the flora and fauna. Therefore, this work dialogues with my professional trajectory, which is always connected to socio-environmental themes.

What projects are you currently working on? What are your near-future plans for photographic production?

I am currently doing documentary recordings on field expeditions, for example, with farming communities and archaeological sites in Piauí (August) and in the Quilombo Kalunga in Goiás (July). Furthermore, I always cover important events connected to the socio-environmental agenda, such as the Marcha das Mulheres Indígenas (Indigenous Women’s March) held in August this year in Brasília. In the coming months, I will go on expeditions to Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Pernambuco, where I will have the opportunity to photograph peoples, traditional communities, and natural landscapes in partnership with ISPN.

I am also working on an authorial photography project about Varjão, a peripheral neighborhood in the Federal District that interacts with conserved fragments of Cerrado within the urban environment.