Welcome into the world of Rafael Pavarotti. Words: Tony Glenville

Dear Shaded Viewers,

As I left the rainy streets of Paris and climbed the stairs, I saw the gardens of the Louvre spattered with with huge watery drops and dark leaden grey skies, then I entered the world of Mr Pavarotti and a rainbow exploded.

Colour drenched my eyes and stories flooded my senses. I was not prepared for the rooms unfolding in deep abundant colours, saturated shades and tones that literally lifted the spirits.

 Score I talk a little about the exhibition and the work, let us start with a bit of information on the man himself. He was born in Icoaraci near Belém, in Brazil’s rainforest region in 1993, he taught himself photography at the age of 12 using his father’s camera and by 16 he was ready to leave home and pursue his career. He work was spotted by Vogue Brazil when he was aged 17. In the years since he has used his photography to reinvent how Black and indigenous models can interact with high fashion, luxury, and couture. Amongst many career highlights and celebrity connections I would note that during Maria Grazia Chiuri’s time at Dior he shot in 2022 their first ever commercial campaign composed entirely of Black models. Plus, his association with Bad Bunny who is a contemporary from Puerto Rico bridging Latin cultures.

” Pavarotti’s profound impact on contemporary fashion is currently the subject of a major solo exhibition—his very first retrospective in France.

To be honest I was unprepared for the variety of the stories, although his signature remains stamped on everything, he does, he shifts the emphasis and the narrative to encompass innovative ideas. His Amazonian African heritage is at the heart of his work, from colours seen in his families’ interiors, to markets, the flora and fauna of his childhood. Traditional colours and natures colours, artificial colours and exotic colours are mixed and layered, heightened, and displayed in contrast to the skin tones and hair of his models. The balancing of the models and the clothes, the background and the lighting, the poses and the story is surreal, over-amplified, unnatural, startling, and loud.

It is like watching a carnival, a religious celebration, a ritual, or an event one does not understand. Pavarotti is challenging you to dive into his vision, become a part of his world, embrace the adventure. It is celebratory but also a dare, a battle to seduce you the viewer to see things his way. It is not simply unconventional it is against the dull world of offices and commuters you just walked in from; it is an escape.

Each room of the exhibition. Is carefully laid out with the big walls of colour perfectly balances against the specific story hung on them. Each story is grouped and tightly worked to exude maximum effect. Each room offers another explosion of Pavarotti’s vision and attitude. The models nd the team who work with him must be exhausted at the end of the shoot since every detail is perfect, the details are themselves complex and the poses and attitude of every model is at the edge of parody.

I found it interesting that he works from time to time in black and white and this recalls the great days of the Irving Penn, Richard Avedon style of shoot. A sharp, hard, graphic, and linear edge pervades the images.

If you only know his work from magazines of online being in the galleries surrounded by his images gives you a full immersion in the world of Rafael Pavarotti. He is only thirty three and what I wondered was, where next? His enormous success, his popularity, his work with major stars all this is amazing, but obviously he cannot repeat ad infinitum for the rest of his career. I imagine film will be great medium for him especially since his visual narratives always include movement.

Still, for the moment this is a marker in his career and Paris and Fashion Week is the perfect place for the event. This Rafael Pavarotti exhibition is on through the spring so plenty of time to get there and experience it for yourself, because be in no doubt, in those colourful galleries surrounded by his work, an experience is certainly what it is.

Tony Glenville